A bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan though said the government would be free to transfer the funds to the NDRF, should it choose to do so.
The NGO Center for Public Interest Litigation led by activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan had filed a petition seeking to have the funds transferred from a non-transparent scheme to the CAG-audited NDRF.
The CPIL case was argued in court by senior advocate Dushyant Dave.
CPIL had claimed that there was no transparency in the use of funds donated to the PM CARES Fund. The apex court rejected these concerns.
The government had argued that though both the schemes were voluntary, they were intended for different purposes and had opposed any transfer of funds from the PM CARES Fund to the NDRF.
The PM CARES Fund will not be audited by the CAG unlike other statutory bodies. It will be audited by independent auditors.