Transparency matters

Govt should voluntarily increase disclosure for PM CARES

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, which argued the PM CARES Fund, set up in March to receive public contributions for Covid-19, should transfer its reserves to the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). The court pointed out a disaster management plan already existed, and that voluntary contributions could still be made to the NDRF. The Union government’s lawyers had earlier argued that the existence of the NDRF did not necessarily preclude the creation of another relief fund — in this case, PM CARES. While this decision makes the legal position clear, it is nevertheless true that the petitioner’s point that the government has been stingy about divulging information about the contributions to the management of PM CARES has not been answered. The Union government must recognise its responsibilities and increase the transparency around the new fund. It must voluntarily let people know where the money is coming from and where it is going. 

While PM CARES has been set up as a public charitable trust and, therefore, may not be subject to standard government transparency rules, the fact is that many of the individuals contributing to it assume that it is indeed being governed with all the appropriate government protocols in place. The impression that it is a normal government agency is only enhanced by the fact that the prime minister is chairperson of the fund and its other trustees include the Union ministers for defence, home affairs, and finance — and that it is administered by a joint secretary in the prime minister’s office. And, of course, its name helps in propagating the notion that it is a state-run, not personal, fund. The Union government should, therefore, live up to the impression that it has created and ensure that transparency levels in the fund match those in other agencies of the government. 

It is worth noting that it is not just individuals who have given money to PM CARES. Had that been the case, it might have been possible to argue that there was no use of state power involved. But as The Indian Express has reported, 38 public sector units (PSUs) gave over Rs 2,000 crore to PM CARES in 2019-20, right at the end of which the fund was launched. This was, in fact, about two-thirds of what PM CARES had collected by that time. Given that PSUs are under the control of the government, the movement of funds from those to PM CARES naturally raises questions, and it becomes even more urgent for the fund to come clean on its sources of financing as well as spending plans. Such questions should not be allowed to arise about a trust that features the prime minister and senior members of the Union Cabinet. It is unfortunate that not enough thought was put into its institutional design, and that the government has used its own legal resources to fight against further transparency for a nominally independent public charitable trust. The government must recognise that such opacity will only harm its own relief efforts, and must seek to voluntarily increase disclosure norms in PM CARES.