Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Plea On Transfer Of PM-Cares Funds To NDRF

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the central government seeking its response to a plea on transferring funds from PM-Cares, set up to deal with the crisis stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, to the National Disaster Response Fund.

A bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice SK Kaul and Justice M.R Shah has asked the government to file its response within four weeks, after which the case will be listed for hearing.

The petition was filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, saying the PM-Cares fund neither comes under the CAG audit nor is covered by the Right to Information Act. Besides, the petition sought:

• To Formulate and implement a national plan to contain Covid-19 as per the Disaster Management Act.
• To Lay down minimum standards for relief and implement those standards as per Disaster Management Act.

The petitioner argued that after two months of the pandemic, there must be a national plan outlining a coordination mechanism between the central and state governments, mandated as per Section 11 of the Disaster Management Act. The last updated national plan, it said, doesn’t sufficiently address situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

The petition also sought directions for using the NDRF to provide assistance in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.