'PM CARES Fund' fulfills all conditions for being declared as 'State': Petitioner's lawyer to Delhi HC

PM Cares Fund fulfils all conditions for being declared as 'The State' under Article 12 of the Constitution, said the petitioner's lawyer Shyam Divan to the Delhi HC during a hearing on Wednesday. The hearing will continue on October 18. The plea filed by one Samayak Gangwal challenged PMO's order rejecting his RTI application stating that PM CARES was not "fund of the Government of India."

New Delhi: Advocate Shyam Divan arguing for the petitioner on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that the PM CARES Fund fulfills all the conditions for being declared as 'The State' under Article 12 of the Indian Constitution. The Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing the plea filed by one Samayak Gangwal, challenging the PMO's order rejecting his RTI application stating that PM Cares was not "fund of the Government of India."

The petitioner's lawyer even cited the public appeals made by the Vice President of India, the Defence Ministry and other Government officials including the Cabinet Ministers and Under Secretary to the Governments towards making donations to the PM Cares Fund.

"We are drawing sustenance from each of these communications. They are themselves saying that PM Cares is established under the Govt of India. These are very thoughtfully drafted communications. We are not saying that PM Cares is bad but it must fall within the discipline of the Constitution. Anyway, the Vice President, the Ministers, and PM Cares itself thinks that it's a Govt Fund...Creating structures, giving immunity in terms of who the donors are and nothing to be disclosed to the general public is an extraordinarily unhealthy precedent," Divan added.

He further citing the trust deed, said that the PM Cares Fund was constituted by the Prime Minister who is its ex-officio chairperson. How can a person sitting on such a high constitutional post-build any structure outside the purview of the Constitution? he questioned, adding that the PM Cares Fund was presented as a part of the Government of India all over the world.

Earlier on 23 September, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had filed an affidavit in the High Court saying that it does not have control over the PM Cares Fund and is a charitable trust. PMO's Under Secretary Pradeep Kumar Srivastava stated in the affidavit that he is not bound to disclose the information of third parties under the Right to Information.

"Irrespective of whether the trust is a “State” or other authority within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India and or whether it is a 'public authority' within the meaning of section 2[h] of Right to Information Act, Section 8 in general and that of provisions contained in subsection [e] and [j], in particular, of the Right to Information Act, it is not permissible to disclose third party information," the Under Secretary at the PMO Pradeep Kumar Srivastava had said.