SC dismisses Prashant Bhushan led PIL which sought transfer of PM CARES funds to NDRF; Says present national disaster relief plan for COVID-19 is enough

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition which sought transfer of the funds from PM CARES to National Disaster Relief Fund. LiveLaw reports that the SC also held that there was no need for a fresh national disaster relief plan for COVID-19, and that the minimum standards of relief as issued under the Disaster Management Act prior to COVID-19 were enough.

The petition was filed by Center for Public Interest Litigation, led by Advocate Prashant Bhushan. Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave appeared for Centre For Public Interest Litigation and submitted that the setting up of the PMCARES Fund was in fact, a “Fraud Upon the Constitution”.

The plea sought transfer of all funds from PM CARES Fund which was set up to combat the COVID-19 pandemic to National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and setting up of a separate National Plan under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, in order to deal with the current pandemic. The plea further contends that the NDRF is not being utilized by the authorities, despite the looming health crisis, and that the setting up of the PM CARES Fund is outside the scope of the DM Act and also raised issue of lack of transparency in PM CARES fund.

On July 27, a bench comprising Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy & MR Shah reserved judgment on the issue of transfer of funds from PMCARES Fund to National Disaster Relief Fund set up under the National Disaster Management Act. Today, apart from dismissing the PIL, the bench also clarified that the Centre will be free to transfer the funds to NDRF as it deems appropriate and that individuals are at liberty to donate to NDRF.