PM Cares Fund has been defined by the government as a government trust for the purpose of corporate donations, but a clause in the trust documents calls it a private entity, which leaves it exempt from RTI scrutiny. This has raised questions over the Fund’s entity- whether it is a private or a public one.
According to a report in NDTV, PM-CARES trust has been registered with the revenue department of Delhi, with Prime Minister as chairperson and senior ministers as trustees. However, the trust deed made public recently on the fund's website does not define it as a government trust.
"The trust is neither intended to be or is in fact owned, controlled or substantially financed by any government or any instrumentality of the government. There is no control of either the central government or any state governments, either direct or indirect, in the functioning of the trust in any manner whatsoever,” says point 5.3 of the Deed.
Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund was set up by PM Modi in March to "deal with emergency or distress situations like the coronavirus pandemic".
PM Cares trust was registered on March 27. On March 28, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued an office memorandum qualifying PM-CARES as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative to receive corporate donations.
