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The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) did not have public authority under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act), and stated that it’s Appellate Authority of Prime Minster's Office(PMO).
Holding this situation, the Deputy Secretary of PMO confirmed have given total refusal towards Central Public Information Officer(CPIO) to keep confidential disclosure of information and that have been sought by an activist named Saket Gokhale regarding PMO CARES Fund.
In an application filed on dated March 29, Gokhale had sought a copy of trust deed and trustees of Fund, and also exemption certificates granted under Section 12A and 80G of Income Tax Act.
On June 5, the CPIO disposed off application by claiming and stating that Fund was not the 'public authority' under the Act, and that same relevant information was also available in the official website.
Challenging this, Gokhale filed a statutory appeal under RTI Act, by directly stating out towards Prime Minister that he was an ex-officio chairman of Funds and the Secretary (Funds) of PMO was honorary custodian related to matters of FUND.
He also further stated that several public sector utilities like Indian Railways have contributed towards PMO CARES FUNDS. Therefore, it became the public authority under Section 2(h) of Act, as per which an entity substantially financed directly or indirectly involved by government, and stating towards it is a public authority, he argued.
He also highlighted that Schedule VII of Companies Act, 2013 was amended on dated, May 29 to allow certain donations towards PMO CARES eligible and that counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) contributions.
Without specifically addressing any arguments raised by Gokhale in the appeal, the Appellate Authority stated that the order passed on dated June 29.
"thereof relating to PMO CARE Fund was not have the public authority that has been granted under Section of 2(h) of RTI Act, 2005, and therefore, there is also no other further information could be shared with them".
Gokhale was asked and told by Authority that he could move the matter directly into the Central Information Commission within the time span of 90 days, if not satisfied with a further response.
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