<p>Amid concerns raised over the transparency of the <strong>PM Cares Fund</strong> set up for COVID-19 relief, a Right to Information (RTI) response received by a lawyer states that the Fund does not come under the scope of "public authority" under the RTI Act.</p>.<p>Advocate <strong>Abhay Gupta</strong> had filed an RTI application seeking details on the PM Cares Fund, including the following:</p><ul><li><p><em>The total amount deposited in the Fund account till date</em></p></li><li><p><em>The total amount deposited in the Fund in the last two monhts</em></p></li><li><p><em>PAN details give to open the PM Cares account</em></p></li><li><p><em>Details of the amount spent from the PM Cares Fund till date</em></p></li><li><p><em>Details of the person who deposited the highest amount till date</em></p></li></ul>.<p>However, in a reply received yesterday, Gupta was informed that the PM Cares Fund is not a public authority under the RTI Act. The reply states,</p>.<div><blockquote>"PM CARES Fund is not a Public Authority under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005. However, relevant information in respect of PM CARES Fund may be seen on the Website - pmcares.gov.in."</blockquote><span class="attribution">Reply to RTI seeking details of PM CARES Fund</span></div>.<p>Section<strong> 2(h)</strong> of the RTI Act defines "public authority" as such:</p><p><em>"public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted—</em></p><p><em>(a) by or under the Constitution;</em></p><p><em>(b) by any other law made by Parliament;</em></p><p><em>(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;</em></p><p><em>(d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government.</em></p>.<p>Under the Act only such information [as defined in Section 2(j)] which is held by or under the control of any public authority may be accessed by the general public through RTI.</p>.<p>In effect, the denial of the PM Cares Fund as a public authority shields it from the ambit of the RTI Act, and consequently, no citizen can obtain details pertaining to the Fund through the RTI route.</p>.<p>A number of citizens, including judges and staff of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, have contributed generously to the PM Cares Fund for COVID-19 relief.</p>.COVID-19: Delhi High Court Judges contribute Rs 10 lakh to PM CARES Fund.<p>The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed petitions calling into question the setting up of the PM Cares Fund.</p>.[COVID-19] Supreme Court dismisses ML Sharma plea questioning setting up of PM Cares Fund."Withdraw petition, it has a Political Colour", SC tells Petitioner challenging PM Cares Fund and Seeking Door-to-Door testing for COVID-19
<p>Amid concerns raised over the transparency of the <strong>PM Cares Fund</strong> set up for COVID-19 relief, a Right to Information (RTI) response received by a lawyer states that the Fund does not come under the scope of "public authority" under the RTI Act.</p>.<p>Advocate <strong>Abhay Gupta</strong> had filed an RTI application seeking details on the PM Cares Fund, including the following:</p><ul><li><p><em>The total amount deposited in the Fund account till date</em></p></li><li><p><em>The total amount deposited in the Fund in the last two monhts</em></p></li><li><p><em>PAN details give to open the PM Cares account</em></p></li><li><p><em>Details of the amount spent from the PM Cares Fund till date</em></p></li><li><p><em>Details of the person who deposited the highest amount till date</em></p></li></ul>.<p>However, in a reply received yesterday, Gupta was informed that the PM Cares Fund is not a public authority under the RTI Act. The reply states,</p>.<div><blockquote>"PM CARES Fund is not a Public Authority under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005. However, relevant information in respect of PM CARES Fund may be seen on the Website - pmcares.gov.in."</blockquote><span class="attribution">Reply to RTI seeking details of PM CARES Fund</span></div>.<p>Section<strong> 2(h)</strong> of the RTI Act defines "public authority" as such:</p><p><em>"public authority" means any authority or body or institution of self- government established or constituted—</em></p><p><em>(a) by or under the Constitution;</em></p><p><em>(b) by any other law made by Parliament;</em></p><p><em>(c) by any other law made by State Legislature;</em></p><p><em>(d) by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government.</em></p>.<p>Under the Act only such information [as defined in Section 2(j)] which is held by or under the control of any public authority may be accessed by the general public through RTI.</p>.<p>In effect, the denial of the PM Cares Fund as a public authority shields it from the ambit of the RTI Act, and consequently, no citizen can obtain details pertaining to the Fund through the RTI route.</p>.<p>A number of citizens, including judges and staff of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, have contributed generously to the PM Cares Fund for COVID-19 relief.</p>.COVID-19: Delhi High Court Judges contribute Rs 10 lakh to PM CARES Fund.<p>The Supreme Court had earlier dismissed petitions calling into question the setting up of the PM Cares Fund.</p>.[COVID-19] Supreme Court dismisses ML Sharma plea questioning setting up of PM Cares Fund."Withdraw petition, it has a Political Colour", SC tells Petitioner challenging PM Cares Fund and Seeking Door-to-Door testing for COVID-19
