PM CARES independent charitable trust, not controlled by governments: Centre To Delhi HC

• Centre or state governments have no direct or indirect control over the functioning of the fund
• The PM CARES only receives voluntary donations and does not receive any government support
• ‘Either you are ‘state’ or you are not: Senior advocate Shyam Divan who appeared for the litigant

The Central Government has told the Delhi High Court that the PM Cares Fund is not created under the Constitution or parliamentary law but has been established as an independent public charitable trust,, according to legal news website Bar and Bench.

The Centre stated that the government, including the Central and State governments, have no direct or indirect control over the functioning of the fund, according to a detailed affidavit submitted before the High Court today.

“There is no control of either the Central Government or any State Government/s, either direct or indirect, in functioning of the Trust in any manner whatsoever,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit – filed in response to a plea seeking the declaration of PM CARES as ‘state’ – also reiterated that the fund is not a “public authority” under the Right to Information Act and, therefore, the provisions of the Act do not apply to it, reported The Wire.

While the prime minister is the ex-officio chairman of the PM CARES Fund, the ministers of defence, home affairs and finance are ex-officio trustees. There are three trustees, Justice (Retired) K.T. Thomas, Kariya Munda and Ratan Tata.

The government also said that PM CARES only receives voluntary donations and does not receive any government support and nor accept contributions flowing out of budgetary sources of government or from the balance sheets of public sector undertakings.

The affidavit says that the instant petition is “based on assumptions and fails to show that the petitioner is personally affected, and is therefore liable to be dismissed”.

However, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the litigant, said that when “high constitutional authorities setting up the trust which has ex officio members, it is nothing but an element or aspect of State”.

“Merely by declaring it is not ‘State’ would not exclude or exempt you from the constitutional fetters. If you are not (state) then you can’t have government symbols or a government website so that the public thinks that you are ‘state’. Either you are ‘state’ or you are not,” the Indian Express reported Divan as saying.  He added that “high public and constitutional functionaries” have sought contributions to PM CARES from the public.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM