Supreme Court declines to entertain plea against PM CARES Fund; asks petitioner to approach High Court

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a special leave petition (SLP) challenging an Allahabad High Court order that upheld the legality of the PM CARES Fund [Divya Pal Singh v. Union of India]..A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai permitted the petitioner's counsel, Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, to withdraw the plea and approach the High Court by way of a review petition. "Petitioner referred relief claimed in writ, submitted that points have not been dealt with by the High Court while dismissing. Only ground was that lis is covered by CPIL judgment. Senior Counsel seeks permission to withdraw the SLP to go and argue in High Court these other grounds. Granted. Permitted as withdrawn. Petitioner at liberty to approach this court later," the oral order dictated by the Bench stated..At the outset, the Bench sought to know the locus of the petitioner to approach the Supreme Court. When the Bench observed that there were too many public spirited individuals, Kamat said,"I am a concerned citizen, not alleging malice in fact. Prime Minister is a statutory functionary.""File a review petition," was the Bench's response..The appeal challenged a Allahabad High Court order which had dismissed a PIL challenging the legal validity of the PM CARES (Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance & Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund and the Prime Minister National Relief Fund in the backdrop of the Disaster Management Act. It was contended that the Fund was established without without passing any legislation to that effect, and that it was kept beyond the scrutiny of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The PM CARES Fund weakens the Disaster Management Act, it was submitted. The petition alleged that contributions from various ministries, agencies and departments of the government flow into the Fund without tax, almost on a regular basis. The following interim reliefs were thus sought:Grant ex-parte ad interim order, direction or writ, directing the Respondent no. 1 to make full disclosure of the statement of accounts, activity and expenditure details of the PM-CARES Fund to this Hon'ble Court and to the public at large, desirably, by publishing the aforesaid details, upon the Government website for all to see, and the accounts to be updated regularly, from time to time; AND/OR Grant a further ad interim order, direction or writ, directing the audit of the PM-CARES Fund to be done by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and publish Audit-Report thereof (in the same way, as is done of other Government funds), from time to time, until the disposal of this writ petition, otherwise the entire nation and the petitioner shall be put to great hardships and irreparable loss..Advocate-On-Record Amit Pai filed the plea with Advocates Rajesh Inamdar, Shashwat Anand, Jawed Ur Rehman, Ashutosh Mani Tripathi, Syed Ahmed Faizan, and Kumail Haider..[Follow our coverage of the hearing].PM CARES Fund not a fund of Government of India: Delhi High Court told