The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has informed the Lok Sabha Secretariat that parliamentary questions and related matters concerning the PM CARES Fund (along with the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund or PMNRF, and the National Defence Fund or NDF) are not admissible in the Lok Sabha.
This position was reportedly communicated on January 30, 2026, citing Rules 41(2)(viii) and 41(2)(xvii) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha These rules generally prohibit questions on matters that are not primarily the concern of the Government of Indiaor that relate to non-governmental bodies or entities outside direct government accountability.
The PMO's rationale is that these funds are constituted entirely from voluntary public contributions and do not form part of government funds (e.g., they do not flow into the Consolidated Fund of India). Therefore, they fall outside the scope of routine parliamentary scrutiny via questions.
This development has drawn criticism, including from opposition parties like the Congress, who have described it as an attempt to shield the fund from transparency and accountability in Parliament. It aligns with the government's long-standing stance on the PM CARES Fund being a public charitable trust rather than a government entity—consistent with earlier submissions in court cases (e.g., before the Delhi High Court) and responses to RTI requests, where it has argued that the fund is not a "public authority" under the RTI Act and that certain disclosures (including third-party information) are impermissible.
No official government press release or parliamentary record confirms this as a blanket ban, but the communication to the Secretariat effectively makes such questions impermissible for listing or discussion under current rules.
For context, the PM CARES Fund was established in 2020 as a charitable trust to handle emergency relief (initially for COVID-19), and debates over its transparency, audit (not by CAG but by private chartered accountants), and status have persisted since then. Recent court observations (e.g., Delhi High Court in 2026) have noted it has a juristic personality but retains privacy rights even under RTI considerations.
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