PM CARES fund now has an independent auditor, PMO is trust's head office

NEW DELHI: The PM CARES fund has now got an independent auditor, the Prime Minister’s Office at South Block will be its “head office”, and two PMO officials will administer the fund on an honorary basis.

“Trustees of the Fund during the second meeting held on 23.04.2020 decided to appoint M/s SARC Associates, Chartered Accountants, New Delhi as the auditors of PM CARES Fund for 3 years,” the updated FAQs on the PMO website now say. This is the same firm, headed by Sunil Kumar Gupta, which audits the PM National Relief Fund.

The trust has specified that an audit will be conducted at the end of the financial year and that it was registered as a public charitable trust at New Delhi on March 27, 2020.


“The Trustees are responsible for the following - fulfilling the objects of the Trust, managing the contribution process to ensure proper application of the Trust property and preparing and submitting all filings, accounts, and returns as required under applicable law,” the updated FAQs say.

A petition has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking to declare the PM CARES fund as a public authority under the RTI Act after the PMO had declined RTI queries about the fund. The government
opposed the petition on basis of maintainability and said it will file an affidavit, on which the HC on June 10 had adjourned the matter to August 28.

The updated FAQs of the PM CARES fund now say the head office of the Fund is the Prime Minister’s Office, South Block, New Delhi. it is being administered on an honorary basis by a Joint Secretary (Administration) in the PMO as Secretary to the fund, who is assisted on honorary basis by an Officer of the rank of Director/Deputy Secretary (Administration) in the PMO. “The Prime Minister’s Office provides such administrative and secretarial support to the Trustees for the management and administration of the Trust, as may be required by the Trustees,” the FAQs add.

The trust has PM as the Chairperson (ex-officio) and Ministers of Defence, Home and Finance as ex-officio trustees. The PM has the power to nominate three trustees to the Board who shall be eminent persons. However, no such appointment has been made so far, the FAQs confirm. So far, an amount of Rs. 3100 Crore has been allocated from PM CARES Fund, the FAQs say.