3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 11, 2026 05:00 AM IST
CPI (M) Rajya Sabha member John Brittas on Tuesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan, saying that any “communication or demand” from the Centre seeking to “disallow Parliamentary questions relating to PM CARES, PMNRF, or similar funds be summarily rejected, and that the authority of Parliament to admit and consider such questions be preserved”.
The letters come a day after The Indian Express reported on February 9 that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), in a letter dated January 30, told the Lok Sabha Secretariat that questions and matters related to the three funds — PM CARES, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) and the National Defence Fund (NDF) — are not permissible under Rule 41(2) (viii) and 41(2) (xvii) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
Regarding the reported communication from the PMO to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Brittas said it was “untenable in law and deserves to be summarily rejected”.
In his letters, the MP claimed to have cited the Office Memorandum issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on March 28, 2020, which “categorically clarified that contributions to the PM CARES Fund are eligible Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure because the Fund is one set up by the Central Government for public relief”.
Brittas wrote: “A fund that is recognised as having been set up by the Central Government for public relief, that is eligible to receive CSR contributions under the Companies Act, 2013, and that has accepted thousands of crores of rupees from public and corporate sources, cannot simultaneously be insulated from parliamentary scrutiny on the plea that it is ‘not a concern of the Government of India’.”
He also pointed out that the Companies Act, 2013, was subsequently amended by the Central government to explicitly include the PM CARES Fund in Schedule VII, placing it on the same statutory footing as the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for CSR purposes.
He also wrote that funds like PM CARES and PMNRF, recognised and enabled under a Parliamentary statute, cannot be insulated from Parliamentary scrutiny, and that any attempt to bar questions on such funds would amount to an erosion of Parliamentary oversight and democratic accountability.
