Hours, after the Union government informed the Delhi High Court that PM CARES Fund is not a Government of India fund and the amount collected by it, does not go to the Consolidated Fund of India, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien shared an old video clip of his speech in Rajya Sabha when he called it “the most opaque, dark fund in the world”.

Calling it ‘Prime Minister Couldn’t Care Less Fund’, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP said that as a responsible opposition, they had called it out last year in September in the Parliament.

He further shared a video clip of his speech in Rajya Sabha on PM CARES. 

Earlier today, an affidavit filed by an Under-Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) who is discharging his functions in the PM Cares Trust on an honorary basis, said the trust functions with transparency and its funds are audited by an auditor – a chartered accountant drawn from the panel prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The affidavit was filed in response to a petition seeking a direction to declare the PM CARES Fund a ‘State’ under the Constitution to ensure transparency in its functioning.

In his petition, Samyak Gangwal had said that usage of the domain name ‘gov’, the Prime Minister’s photograph, state emblem etc has to be stopped.

Seeking transparency and accountability, the plea sought a direction for periodic auditing of the PM CARES website and disclosure of the details of donations received by it.

The petitioner has also filed another petition to declare PM CARES as a “public authority” under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Amit Bansal has fixed the matter for further hearing on September 27.