RTI on PM-CARES Fund

RTI on PM-CARES Fund

• The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has denied a Right to Information request related to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund).
• Denied Information: The PMO denied information on the number of applications and appeals related to PM-CARES and the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.
• Reason for denial: The information was denied by the PMO on the grounds that providing it would “disproportionately divert the resources of the office” under Section 7(9) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
• According to Section 7 (9) of the RTI Act, “information shall ordinarily be provided in the form in which it is sought unless it would disproportionately divert the resources of the public authority or would be detrimental to the safety or preservation of the record in question.”

Criticism:

• Misuse: The move has been criticized by the Central Information Commission (CIC) as misuse of Section 7(9) by the PMO.
• Kerala HC Judgement: According to the judgment by the Kerala High Court in 2010, Section 7(9) does not exempt any public authority from disclosing information.
• It only gives discretion to the public authority to provide the information in a form other than the form in which the information is sought.
• Section 8 (1) lists the various valid reasons for exemption against furnishing information under the Act and not Section 7(9).

Concerns around PM CARES Fund:

• Concerns have been raised around the opaqueness of PM CARES Fund’s trust deed against public scrutiny of the expenditure of the fund.
• The need for a new PM CARES Fund, given that a PM National Relief Fund (PMNRF) with similar objectives exists.
• The decision to allow uncapped corporate donations to the fund to count as CSR expenditure, a facility not provided to PMNRF or the CM’s Relief Funds, goes against previous guidelines stating that CSR should not be used to fund government schemes.
• A government panel had previously advised against allowing CSR contributions to the PMNRF on the grounds that the double benefit of tax exemption would be a “regressive incentive”.
• Donations to PM CARES have been made tax-exempt and can be counted against a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) obligations. It is also exempt from the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, and accepts foreign contributions.

Source: The Hindu