PM CARES Fund's corpus rose to ₹8,452 crore by March 2025, prompting questions over its possible use for schools.
CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke suggested using the reserves for school infrastructure, citing shortages during his Maharashtra campaign.
The fund's stated objectives focus on emergencies, relief and healthcare, with other spending requiring approval under its mandate.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke questioned the current utilisation of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund on Wednesday, citing its latest audit report. He suggested that the existing reserves could finance the construction of approximately 1,000 high-tech model schools.
According to the latest audit report, the trust corpus increased to ₹ 8,452 crore as of March 31, 2025, rising from ₹ 7,173 crore during the preceding financial year.
The BJP rejected Dipke's proposals as "theatrics", stating the fund remains exclusively reserved for disaster relief and emergencies and cannot be treated as a source of funding for unrelated expenditure.
The ruling party also criticised Arvind Kejriwal. Leaders challenged the Delhi chief minister to escort Dipke to Punjab to evaluate the state's self-proclaimed "world-class schools", claiming that people in Punjab are fed up with the government's claims.
Purpose Of The Fund
The PM CARES website stated that authorities established and registered the fund as a public charitable trust on March 27, 2020. The government created the framework as a direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The primary mandate of the trust is to provide immediate relief during public health emergencies, natural disasters or man-made calamities.
Administrators can legally allocate these resources to upgrade healthcare infrastructure and modernise pharmaceutical facilities. The stated objectives also authorise expenditure for conducting medical research, delivering direct financial aid to affected populations and undertaking any other activity that is not inconsistent with these stated purposes.
Can Schools Be Funded
Dipke highlighted severe infrastructure deficits across rural Maharashtra during the CJP's "School Thik Karo" campaign, noting he found the condition of several schools to be 'very bad'. He observed a distinct "shortage of funds" impacting local educational facilities.
"When I asked the authorities why there were no basic facilities here, I was told that there was a shortage of funds," Dipke said.
"So on one hand, it is being said that there are no funds and on the other hand ₹ 8,500 crore is lying in the PM CARES Fund. So, should this money not be used for the schools?" Dipke added.
Spending Rules
The official trust objectives do not list routine school construction, building repairs or general education infrastructure as standalone purposes, as Hindustan Times reported.
Any capital allocation for educational upgrades requires explicit approval from the Board of Trustees, who must justify the expenditure within the strict emergency mandate.
The Prime Minister manages the entity as ex-officio Chairman. The Ministers of Defence, Home and Finance serve as ex-officio Trustees. The board includes two nominated trustees, Justice K.T. Thomas (Retd.) and Kariya Munda.
