On Monday, the High Court of Bombay asked the Centre to file its reply to a Public Interest Litigation seeking directions for PM Modi to forthwith take steps to remove the words 'Prime Minister' & his picture from the PM Cares Fund website & its trust deed. "This is also an important issue," it said. The PIL also seeks removal of the national emblem & flag from the website.
The PIL says the fund does not discharge any regal, governmental or sovereign functions & is "not the offspring or the blood & bones or the voice & hands of the Government" so the use of the title 'Prime Minister', his photo, the national emblem & flag violates the Emblems & Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act & The State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act.
When the PIL came for hearing before a bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta & justice Makarand Karnik, additional solicitor general Anil Singh sought time to file the Centre's reply & asked that the matter be heard after Christmas vacations. The judges noted that the Centre has not replied to the petition since the last hearing. The CJ said, "File your affidavit." On Oct 12, Singh had sought time to take instructions. The judges directed the reply to be filed on Dec 23 & posted the hearing for Jan 3.
The PIL was filed by Thane district Congress president Vikrant Chavan. Modi is a respondent as he is chairman of the Fund. The petition says Modi executed a deed constituting the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance & Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, which is purported to be a public charitable trust. It says Modi, a repository of Constitutional trust, is expected to preserve the sanctity of names, emblems & pictorial representations. But they were used to appeal for donations on digital & traditional media. The petition says "it (PM Cares Fund) is not Government of India fund & the amount collected by it does not go to the Consolidated Fund of India.'' By March 31, 2020 over Rs 3,076 crore was collected.
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