NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday defended the PM CARES Fund before the Supreme Court, saying existence of the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) didn’t prohibit establishment of a new fund.
In an affidavit filed in the SC, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the PM CARES Fund provided for voluntary donations to be made to it and there was no need to transfer donations received in one fund to another.
The affidavit has been filed in response to a petition seeking transfer of money received in the PM CARES Fund to NDRF.
The SC had on June 17 issued notice to the Centre and sought to know if a national plan under NDMA had been framed or not. The petitioner had alleged that the Centre was not divulging information about specific utilisation of the PM CARES Fund till date. But the MHA said, “There are several funds which are either established earlier or now for carrying out various relief works. PM CARES is one such fund with voluntary donations.”