A day after the Supreme Court order on PM CARES Fund, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday said though the court order was final, it would be contested in academic circles as the top court did not have an occasion to pronounce a judgment on transparency, disclosure and management practices.
He also posed a series of questions on Twitter regarding the functioning of the fund.
How different is the PM CARES Fund from the PM’s National Relief Fund?
“Supreme Court has delivered a judgement on the legality and legal accountability of PM-CARES FUND. The judgement is final but will be contested for a long time in academic circles. There are other aspects of PM-CARES FUND on which the Supreme Court had no occasion to pronounce judgement. These are transparency, disclosure and management practices concerning the Fund,” Mr. Chidambaram said on Twitter.
“Who are the donors who gave ₹3,076 crore in the first five days in March 2020? Do they include Chinese firms? What is the amount received since April 1, 2020 and who are the donors?” he asked.
The former Finance Minister also asked about the procedure to allocate money from the fund for various COVID-19 mitigating activities.
“Who are the recipients of money from the Fund since its inception? Are utilisation certificates (UC) demanded and received from the recipients? If the Fund is beyond the ambit of RTI, who will answer these vital questions?” asked the former Finance Minister.
