PM Cares Fund status: Delhi High Court slams Centre for submitting one-page reply to petition

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• Jul 12, 2022 | Dhupali Das

The court ordered the government to produce a full and extensive response within four weeks and scheduled the case for the next hearing on September 16...

Digital Desk: The Delhi High Court slammed the Centre on Tuesday for just providing a one-page reply to a petition asking for the declaration of the PM CARES Fund as "The State" under Article 12 of the Indian Constitution. 

"In such a crucial topic, you filed a one-page reply. There is not even the slightest mention of what the Senior Counsel [for the petitioner] is arguing in the reply. We have to pass an order on each argument raised," said the division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The court ordered the government to produce a full and extensive response within four weeks and scheduled the case for the next hearing on September 16.

According to the appeal submitted by attorney Samyak Gangwal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi established the PM-CARES Fund in March 2020 with the noble goal of providing aid to citizens following the covid-19 pandemic, and considerable donations were received. The plea, however, claimed that the trust deed was not established by, under, or pursuant to the Constitution or by any statute passed by Parliament, as per a copy of the trust deed published by the PM-CARES Fund on its website in December 2020.

The Centre previously informed the Delhi High Court that the trust fund is not one owned by the Government of India and that its funds do not enter the Consolidated Fund of India.

"Irrespective of whether the trust is a "State" or other authority within the meaning of Article 12 of the Indian Constitution, and or whether it is a 'public authority within the meaning of section 2[h] of the Right to Information Act, Section 8 in general, and those of provisions contained in sub section [e] and [j] of the Right to Information Act, it is not allowed to divulge third party information," Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, Under Secretary at the PMO said.