PM Cares Fund Not Under RTI – Free PDF Download

Table of Contents

RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005

Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days.

The definition of ‘public authority’ also includes-
Bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by the government and non-governmental organizations substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government.

A few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the Fund on his Twitter account on March 28, Sri Harsha Kandukuri filed an RTI application on April 1,
Asking the PMO to provide the Fund’s trust deed and all government orders, notifications and circulars relating to its creation and operation.
When he did not receive any response within 30 days, he appealed.
Finally, he received a response from the PMO’s information officer dated May 29.

“PM CARES Fund is not a Public Authority under the ambit of Secon 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005.
However, relevant information in respect of PM CARES Fund may be seen on the Website gov.in,” the reply said.

By denying PM CARES fund the status of ‘public authority‘, it is only reasonable to infer that it is not controlled by the Government.
But we know that,
Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance, Government of India are ex-officio Trustees of the Fund.
For a trust which is created and run by 4 cabinet ministers in their ex-officio capacities, denying the status of ‘public authority’ is a big blow to transparency and not to mention our democratic values“,
RTI activist said

There is also ambiguity regarding whether the PMNRF is subject to the RTI Act.
While the Central Information Commission directed it to disclose information in 2008,
A division bench of the Delhi High Court gave a split opinion on the question of whether PMNRF is a public authority under the Act.

Sources at the CAG office, said, “Since the fund is based on donations of individuals and organisations, we have no right to audit the charitable organisation”.