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The Center justified the making of PM Cares Fund before the Supreme Court on Thursday and said that the insignificant presence of a statutory fund under the Disaster Management Act would not preclude the setting up of an alternate one that accommodates voluntary donations. The NDRF was a statutory fund made under the Disaster Management Act, a Ministry of Home Affairs affirmation submitted to the top court contended. The NDRF funs generally originate from budgetary distributions with no private contribution.
Nonetheless, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, showing up for the Center, questioned this and said that under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the NDRF consist of funds as budgetary provisions made by the central and state governments with no private contribution. "Be that as it may, the PM CARES, on the other hand, is one such fund, which accepts voluntary donations too," the Center contended. "The affidavit expresses that unimportant presence of statutory funds would not forbid the making of a different fund like PM CARES funds which accommodate voluntary donations."
On 28 March 2020, the Center set up the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES Fund) to manage crisis circumstances like the one presented by the COVID-19 outbreak and give alleviation to those affected. The PM is the ex-officio chairman of the fund and the defense, finance and home minister are its Ex-officio trustees.
A bench of Justices M R Shah, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and Ashok Bhushan took the Center's affidavit on record and asked Tushar Mehta (Solicitor General) to serve the copy of it to senior Adv. Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi, appearing for the NGO, 'center for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL)'. The bench labeled with a suo motu case on migrant laborers issue, the 'center for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) request looking for direction to the Center to use theNational Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for giving help with the battle against COVID-19 pandemic and crediting all the contributions from people and institutes to the NDRF as opposed to PM Cares Fund.
The Supreme Court is probably going to hear the PIL next week.
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