Social media, several organisations and media continue to raise questions about the structure, accountability and transparency of the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) which is being labelled as a private trust by every government authority. Amidst all this, a query filed under Right to Information (RTI) shows that this private trust was given the .gov.in domain that is reserved for government authorities.
Responding to an appeal filed by Commodore Lokesh Batra (retd) under the RTI Act, the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which manages the .gov.in domains, says, "...the domain pmcares.gov.in was allotted to PMO (apex body) complying with the 'guidelines for allocation of registration at the third level under .gov.in domain zone dated 23 October 2019', issued by the internet governance division, ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY)."
The 23 October 2019 guidelines issued by MeitY mention offices of the president, vice president, prime minister, ministries or departments of the Union government, state governments, parliament, judicial bodies, legislative bodies and commissions or councils created under the constitution, statute of executive order from the Indian government as eligible for registration under the .gov.in domain at third level.
However,
the trust deed available on PM CARES Fund website clearly says it is not by or under the Constitution of India or by any law made by the parliament or by any state legislature. "This Trust is neither intended to be or is in fact owned, controlled or substantial financed by any government or any instrumentality of the government. There is no control of either the central government or any state government/s either direct or indirect in functioning of the Trust in any manner whatsoever," it says.
At the same time, the prime minister (PM) in his official capacity is the ex-officio chief of the board of trustees, while Union ministers of defence, home affairs and finance, are ex-officio trustees of the fund.
So far, all efforts from several citizens have been unsuccessful in obtaining any information regarding PM CARES Fund, with the government authorities stonewalling all investigations.
In fact, the RTI application of Cmde Batra was sent to the PMO, when NIC itself is the public authority and should have the record available with itself. NIC says it has forwarded the RTI application to PMO as the information was related to a third party, here the PMO.
The central public information officer (CPIO) of the PMO replied to the transferred RTI application stating that the MeitY should refer to its response given to a similar RTI application of Kavya Pahwa on 5 August 2020.
The response says, "PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the ambit of section 2(h) of the RTI Act. Therefore, MeitY may not disclose any information in respect of PM CARES Fund."
Aggrieved by this response, Cmde Batra filed his first appeal before the appellate authority. In it he stated, "Going by the PMO response, PM CARES Fund is a non-governmental setup/ entity (NGO). The portal also mentions that PM CARES Fund has been registered as a public charitable trust.
"However, the said non-governmental setup/ entity (NGO) has been provided with many government services or facilities. To quote few: it is operating from the complex of the PMO, provision of .gov.in, the administration is also handled by government officials. In other words, at the cost to taxpayers. All these concerns generate a huge public interest."
However, the appellate authority reiterated the reply given by the CPIO about allocation of .gov.in domain to PM CARES Fund through PMO. While disposing the appeal, it stated, "...point no i, ii, ii, iv mention some documents, which do not exist as they are not created. Point no2, 18 of the guidelines is not applicable in this case, i.e. the letter from the apex office falls under point 2.1.1 of the guidelines."
Based on the reply, Cmde Batra has filed a new application under RTI seeking more details.
Another interesting co-incidence is that everything related with PM CARES Fund is fast tracked in four days between 27th March and 31 March 2020. This includes registration of the trust deed, and also obtaining permission to use .gov.in domain obtained on 27th March itself. Also on the same day, the Fund filed an application seeking exemption for donations from income tax (I-T) and received approval (CIT (Exemption) Delhi/80G/2019-20/10587) instantly.
On 31 March 2020, the union government issued a gazette notification for the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020.
Through the ordinance, an amendment in section 10 and 80G of Act 43 of 1961 was carried out to specifically include PM CARES Fund.
As per
informaiton shared on the PM CARES Fund portal, in just four days between 27th March and 31 March 2020, the PM CARES Fund collected Rs3,076.62 crore.
On
5 April 2020, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) issued a release about Rs430 crore contributions by officers and staff of ministry of finance, including the officials of financial institutions and public sector banks and enterprises under the ministry. The release states "The PM CARES Fund was created on 28 March 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic in India. This dedicated national fund has been set up with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation as posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected people."
As
Moneylife had mentioned, while making the prime minister the chairman of the board of trustees, the trust deed pf PM CARES Fund tries to distance itself from oversight and scrutiny by most government agencies, it is also out of the purview of the RTI Act, even after collecting enormous funds by making it eligible for funding under corporate social responsibility (CSR) and making itself eligible for income tax (I-T) exemptions.
(Read: PM CARES Fund: Public or Private Trust? While Fully Protecting Trustees)
Only Modi haters are raising doubts.
There is an attitude in India that the person at the top must be obeyed without any questions. This is bad for morale and also bad for the person who is treated as a person who knows everything.
Unfortunately this attitude pervades everywhere in India, from the family unit to the classroom to the workplace.
One must be encouraged to question so that the person being questioned also grows in ability, otherwise he becomes ossified.
We all have come across so many older individuals in different spheres in India who are woefully wrong but no one dares to point it out to them because the questioner is immediately branded as ungrateful, disloyal, traitor, etc, etc.
The greater the responsibility of such a person, the greater harm he causes.
This must change if India is to prosper.
Do govt offices work till 19.25 hours, Did PM visit registrar office at 19.hours to give his thumb impression.? If he has not visited how was the thumb impression taken?
where did Rs. 100/- to purchase stamp paper come in from private or gov, and who paid initial sum of Rs. 2,25,000/- private or gov?
As per the Act , a trust may be created for any lawful purpose and may be formed by the settlor (the person creating the trust) in his/her life time by a non-testamentary instrument or thereafter, through a testamentary instrument (a Will) .
The 'Deed' of the PM CARES needs to be checked and expert legal advice should be obtained to clear the air.
There are far too many grey areas in the information obtained so far.
How can any one trust what this man says when like Trump he lies constantly?