Bombay High Court dismisses PIL seeking declaration of PM CARES funds

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL seeking declaration of funds received by the Prime Minister's Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM CARES), a charitable trust created by the Union government amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

All reliefs sought in the plea are refused, a division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Anil Kilor said while dismissing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Arvind Waghmare.

The petition had sought a direction to the government to declare funds received and expenditure of the same on the government's website periodically.

It also sought a direction to the government and the trust to appoint or nominate at least two members from opposition parties in order to have a proper check and transparency.

The trust was created to have financial assistance from people across the country and overseas to provide relief to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

The central government had opposed the PIL and sought its dismissal, saying a similar plea challenging the setting up of the PM CARES trust was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Waghmare in his petition said the PM CARES trust had Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairperson and ministers from the defence, home and finance departments as its members.

"As per guidelines of thePMCARESFund, apart from the chairperson and three other trustees, the chairperson had to appoint or nominate three more trustees. However, from the formation of the trust on March 28, 2020 till date no appointment has been made, the petition claimed.