PMO says no question on PM CARES, two other funds admissible in Lok Sabha: Reasons it gave

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that Parliament questions and matters related to PM CARES Fund, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and the National Defence Fund (NDF) are not admissible under rules related to the conduct of business in Lok Sabha, The Indian Express reported on Monday. It is learnt that on January 30, the PMO told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that questions and matters related to the three funds are not permissible under Rule 41(2) (viii) and 41(2)(xvii) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. What is PM CARES Fund and the other two funds? The PM CARES fund was set up on March 27, 2020, following the Covid-19 outbreak. “Keeping in mind the need for having a dedicated fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected, a public charitable trust under the name of ‘Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund)’ has been set up,” the official website of PM CARES fund states. The fund was registered as a Public Charitable Trust and its trust deed has been registered under the Registration Act, 1908, at New Delhi on March 27, 2020. As per the PM CARES Fund receipts and payment account report for 2022-23, which is the last published on its official website, the total balance at the end of March 2023 stood at Rs 6,283.7 crore. The other two funds mentioned in the January 30, 2026 communication from the PMO are also controlled by the PM office. The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established in January 1948 with public contributions to assist displaced persons from Pakistan. Its resources are now utilised primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc., and to the victims of major accidents and riots. The National Defence Fund (NDF) is used for the welfare of members of the Armed Forces, including paramilitary forces, and their dependents. The fund is administered by an Executive Committee, with the PM as Chairperson, and Defence, Finance and Home Ministers as Members, according to its official website. ## What has government’s stand been on PM CARES fund in the past? In January 2023, the Centre had informed the Delhi High Court that PM CARES Fund has been set up as a public charitable trust and is not created under the Constitution or any law made by the Parliament or the State. The Centre had made the submission during the hearing of a plea seeking to declare the fund a “state” under Article 12 of the Constitution to ensure transparency in its functioning. The Centre in its affidavit had said that the trust is “neither intended to be or in fact owned or controlled” by any government or any instrumentality of the government and the composition of the board of trustees consisting of holders of public office is merely for administrative convenience. The affidavit also stated that since it is not constituted under law or the Constitution, PMCARES does not constitute a public authority under the provisions of the RTI Act. ## What was the Supreme Court order on the PM CARES Fund? On August 18, 2020, the Supreme Court had “refused” to order transfer of funds from the PM CARES Fund to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), saying they “are two entirely different funds with different object and purpose” and “there is no occasion” for such a direction. The apex court had also said guidelines specifically provide for audit of the NDRF by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India, but PM CARES Fund is a public charitable trust due to which “there is no occasion” for such an audit. Dismissing a writ petition filed by the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), the court had said: “The funds collected in the PM CARES Fund are entirely different funds which are funds of a public charitable trust and there is no occasion for issuing any direction to transfer the said funds to the NDRF”. Why has the PMO directed the Lok Sabha secretariat to not admit questions and matters on the three funds? The reasoning for questions and matters not being admissible in Lok Sabha given by the PMO, it is learnt, was that the corpus of these funds is constituted entirely with voluntary public contribution and not from any allocation out of the Consolidated Fund of India. The reasoning is on similar lines to what the Centre had told courts earlier. What are the rules cited by the PMO to the Lok Sabha Secretariat while asking it to not admit questions? The PMO told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that questions and matters related to the three funds are not permissible under Rule 41(2) (viii) and 41(2)(xvii) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. Under the stipulated conditions that govern the right to ask questions in the Lok Sabha, Rule 41(2) (viii) states that “it shall not relate to a matter which is not primarily the concern of the Government of India”. Rule 41(2) (xvii) states “it shall not raise matters that are under the control of bodies or persons not primarily responsible to the Government of India”. Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More