PM-CARES Fund 'controlled by govt', but not a public authority: Centre

The Centre has said in a new RTI reply that the PM-CARES Fund is 'owned and established' by the government but still not a public authority. This response contradicted its recent claim that the fund was private.

"This Fund (PM CARES FUND) is completely Financed by donations received from individuals/ organizations/CSRs [corporate social responsibility] / Foreign individuals / foreign organization / PSUs and not at-all financed by the appropriate government and administered by the private individual as Trustees, which is a compulsory condition to invoke section 2(h) of the Right to information Act, 2005 and therefore, PM CARES Fund cannot be considered as a public authority,” the government’s response to the RTI filed by Commodore (retired) Lokesh K Batra stated.

This month the fund’s trust deed was made public. A clause in the document called the fund a private entity, exempting it from RTI scrutiny, reported NDTV.

The fund has, however, been registered with the revenue department of Delhi, with the PM as chairperson and senior ministers as trustees.

The trust was registered on March 27 this year and on the next day, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued an office memorandum qualifying PM-CARES as a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative to receive corporate donations. On May 26, the trust was added to the Companies Act.

Questions have been raised about the fund’s transparency, and it's need when the PM's National Relief Fund already existed.