The centre on Tuesday sought the dismissal of a petition demanding the declaration of funds collected under PM-CARES which was set up by the Union government amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Prime Ministers Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM-CARES) is a public charitable trust which was created by the government to deal with national emergency or situation such as the one posed by COVID-19 outbreak, the petition said.
Anil Waghmare, a lawyer based in Nagpur, filed a petition in the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court after which the bench comprising of Justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Killor on Tuesday issued a notice to the Union government and all trustees of PM-CARES fund seeking a declaration of the amount collected.
This was opposed by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh who told the Nagpur bench of Bombay HC that the petition filed by Waghmare should be dismissed. He informed that a similar petition against setting up of the PM-CARES fund was dismissed by the Supreme Court in April this year.
Replying to this, the bench said that the petition which was dismissed sought different reliefs. The HC directed the Union government to file an affidavit within two weeks of time.
When the PM-CARES was created, it had Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairperson and ministers from departments of Defence, Home and Finance as its members, the petition said. It also sought directions to audit the funds by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) instead of independent auditors.
The petition sought directions that the PM-CARES fund should be audited by the CAG to maintain the respect of the top institution of the country created by the Indian constitution.
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