Bombay High Court on Tuesday issued notice to central government and all trustees of PM-CARES fund seeking a declaration of the amount collected on the basis of a petition filed by a Nagpur-based lawyer Arvind Waghmare.
The PM-CARES is a public charitable trust set up by the Union government amid the coronavirus pandemic to deal with national emergency or situation and provide relief to the affected people. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC sought to know the details of the funds collected and its audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
According to media reports, Waghmare filed the petition in his capacity as a citizen of India and a donor to the fund after which the bench comprising Justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Killor on Tuesday issued notices. The HC directed the Union government to file an affidavit within two weeks of time.
The petition states that the PM-CARES was set up with the objective of dealing with a national emergency such as the one created by COVID-19 pandemic and to provide relief to the affected people.
The PM-CARES trust, when created, had Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairperson and ministers from departments of Defence, Home and Finance as its members, the petition said while seeking directions to audit the funds by the 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.
The petition further claimed that as per the guidelines of the PM-CARES fund, the chairperson is supposed to appoint three more trustees apart from the three already present. The petition also sought that at least two members from the opposition parties should be included in the trust.
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