The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the money in the PM Cares Fund cannot be directed to be deposited or transferred to the National Disaster Relief Fund. The apex court has dismissed a PIL by Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking a direction to the Centre to transfer all contributions made to the PM Cares Fund, set up for Covid-19 relief, to the NDRF.
The court has also rejected the demand for the Centre to frame a fresh National Disaster Management Plan for Covid-19 instead of relying on the National Plan formulated in December 2019 which talked about tackling biological disasters.
The SC said there is no impediment for citizens and corporates to deposit money in NDRF and clarified that PM Cares Fund is completely different from NDRF.
On 27 July, SC had reserved its order on a plea by an NGO ‘Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).
The plea had sought a direction to the Centre to transfer all contributions made to the PM Cares Fund, set up for Covid-19 relief, to the NDRF and also claimed that PM CARES Fund was set up in violation of the legal mandate under the Disaster Management Act as per which any grant made by any person or institution for the purpose of disaster management should be compulsorily credited to NDRF.