Why PM care fund does not come under RTI?
Table of Contents
Why PM care fund does not come under RTI?
They have been highlighting how after the amended FCRA came into force on September 29, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, and despite the government’s claim that it was being made more stringent to provide greater transparency, control and accountability, the PM-CARES was exempted from its purview.
Does PM come under RTI?
The petition challenges a June 2, 2020 order of the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO), PMO, refusing to provide documents sought by him on the ground that PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the RTI Act.
Who is not under RTI?
Most of the intelligence agencies are excluded from the ambit of RTI Act, 2005 as would be seen from Schedule 2 to the Act. However, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) are notable exclusion to this exemption.
Apart from this, the PMO also argued that the PM Cares Fund is not a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005, so it is not a compulsion to give information about it. Thus, it is clear from the above description that the government does not want to tell the country how much money it has received under the PM Cares fund?
In a reply to an RTI filed on April 1 by Harsha Kandukuri, a student of the Azim Premji University, Bangalore, the PMO stated that the Fund is not a public authority under section 2 (h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, and therefore it won’t be able to divulge information sought in the application.
Is the fund exempt from the RTI Act?
The fund has been established as a public charitable trust but that does not exempt it from the purview of the RTI Act.
Why has the government denied the application of RTI under RTI Act?
By simply ruling that it is not a public authority and denying the application on RTI Act, the government has constructed walls of secrecy around it. This is not about lack of transparency and denying the application of the RTI Act to the fund, we should also be worried about how the fund is being operated.