A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court by Advocates Shaswat Aanad, Ankur Azad and Faiz Ahmed along with a law student, raising questions on the need for establishing funds like PM Cares Fund and various Chief Minister funds, when National and State Disaster Relief Funds have been existing since 2005.
Additionally, the plea contests the testing of only ‘suspected cases’ of COVID-19 and suggests mass COVID-19 tests, terming the current approach for testing “inadequate and insufficient”.
With regards to the creation of Coronavirus specific funds, the petition questions the existence of funds of such nature when National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) and the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) have already been formed in 2005 after the National Disaster Management Act was brought into force.
The petition stated:
“The creation of separate public charitable trusts by the Central/State Government(s) only tends to maim, weaken and paralyze the 2005 Act and the trusts/funds thereunder, being the NDRF and the SDRF. The creation of non-statutory public charitable trust/fund by Prime Minister and Chief Minsters, being PM-Cares Funds and various CM-Relief Funds and promoting the same, who are also concerned with promoting the statutory funds/trusts being the NDRF/SDRF, is arbitrary, inappropriate, uncalled for, unjustified and impermissible under the public policy and within the scheme of the 2005 Act and in the interests of the public at large, keeping in view the clash of interests among such funds/trusts.“
It has been also prayed by the petitioners that such funds of PM cares or PMNRF should be transferred to NDRF and SDRF respectively.
The following issues were raised in the present plea:
- Whether, Article 21 of the Constitution obligates the Central/State Governments to carry out mass tests of public generally to trace those infected by COVID-19 for their isolation and treatment to break the chains of disease transmission?
- Whether, the public trust, being PMNRF constituted in the year 1948 has become redundant and void in view of 2005 Act which has squarely covered the field inhabited by the said trust?
- Whether, the PM-Cares Fund (public charitable trust) created by the Central Government with a view to collect funds or any grant made by any person or institution for the purpose of disaster management, adversely affects the scheme of NDRF, constituted by the Central Government, under the 2005 Act to cope with such a situation, in regard to the field occupied by the said Act?
- Whether, the CM-Relief Funds created by the State Governments with a view to collect funds or any grant made by any person or institution for the purpose of disaster management, adversely affect the scheme of SDRF, constituted by the State Governments, under the 2005 Act to cope with such a situation, in regard to the field occupied by the said Act?
- Whether, creation of non-statutory public charitable trust/fund by Prime Minister and Chief Minsters, being PM-Cares Funds and various CM-Relief Funds and promoting the same, who are also concerned with promoting NDRF/SDRF, is justified and permissible under public policy and within the scheme of the 2005 Act, keeping in view the clash of interests among such funds?
- Whether, the Central and State Governments are competent to create public trusts in derogation of the 2005 Act?
- Whether, the public trusts being the PMNRF, PM-Cares Fund and CM-Relief Funds are liable to be declared as collection agencies for collecting money in relation to and for the purposes of NDRF/SDRF under the 2005 Act and the funds so collected are liable to be transferred/credited to the account of the NDRF/SDRF, as the case may be?
