The Revenue Department of the Finance Ministry has asked its officers and staff to contribute one day’s salary to the PM-Cares Fund, every month, for a year.
The PM-Cares Fund was set up last month to collect donations for the COVID-19 pandemic.
An internal circular of the Department said: “It has been decided to appeal all officers and staff of the Department of Revenue to contribute their one day’s salary every month till March 2021 to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-Cares) Fund to aid the government’s effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic.”
The circular, which has been reviewed by The Hindu , further said officers who do not want to contribute should say so in writing.
“Any officer or the staff having objection to it may intimate Drawing and Distribution officer, Department of Revenue in writing mentioning his/her employee code latest by 20.04.20,” the circular dated April 17, said.
Unusual request
The communication has come as a surprise to the officers and staff of the department as, they say, typically requests for such contributions come through the employees’ association. Furthermore, employees have been never asked to give in writing if they do not want to donate.
“Never before contribution was asked for every month, for a year. This is more than one-third of a months’ salary,” said an officer on the condition of anonymity.
The PM-Cares fund, a public charitable trust, was set up the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected.
The Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the fund and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance, are ex-officio Trustees of the Fund.
Donations to the fund qualify for 80G benefits for 100% exemption under the Income Tax Act, 1961. Donations will also qualify to be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure under the Companies Act, 2013.
