Allahabad HC Notice to Centre, NDMA on the Validity of PM CARES Fund

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has issued notices to the Centre and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) while hearing a review petition challenging the constitutional validity of Prime Minister National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and Prime Minister’s Citizen’s Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation Fund (PM CARES Fund).

The review petition has sought a declaration of PM CARES Fund and PMNRF as unconstitutional as there is already Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), which is constituted by the central government and is a statutory fund under the 2005 Act, needed to combat a crisis like Covid-19.

“When there is already a statutory public trust, i.e., the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF)’ by the central government, the PMNRF has lost its utility, necessity, and efficacy and became otiose and redundant due to its clash of interests with that of the NDRF,” the petitioner pleaded.

Hearing a review petition filed by one Divya Pal Singh, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, directed to list this case in the last week of July for the next hearing.

Earlier, a division bench of the high court had dismissed Singh’s petition challenging the validity of the PM CARES Fund on August 31, 2020.

Thereafter, a petition was filed before the Supreme Court challenging the August 31 judgment of the high court.

The Supreme Court asked the petitioner to approach the high court first by filing the review petition, further allowing him to again approach the apex court in case he is aggrieved by the high court order in review.

The petitioner sought to declare the PM CARES fund legally unsustainable as a huge amount of public money has secretly been poured into the bank account of the PM CARES fund, which is by nature non-transparent, opaque, and unaccountable.

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