SC posts Karnataka plea against Centre’s choke on drought relief for detailed hearing after four weeks
In an earlier hearing, the court had advised the Centre against entering into a “contest” with water-starved Karnataka over its request for drought relief.
The Supreme Court on July 12 scheduled the hearing of a writ petition filed by the State of Karnataka seeking a direction to the Centre to release over ₹18,000 crore for drought relief under National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) after four weeks.
Appearing before a Bench headed by Justice BR Gavai, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate DL Chidananda, for Karnataka, urged the court to list the case on a non-miscellaneous day for detailed arguments.
Mr. Sibal said some funds have been released, but not enough. He said Centre has made an allotment of ₹3454 crore only after Karnataka moved the apex court.
In an earlier hearing, the court had advised the Centre against entering into a “contest” with water-starved Karnataka over its request for drought relief.
“Let there be no contest here between the Union and the State,” Justice Gavai had addressed Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, both appearing for the Union government, at the time.
The court had pointed to a steady stream of States approaching the Supreme Court against the Centre for release of funds.
Recently, Tamil Nadu government had accused the Centre in the Supreme Court of treating the people of the State in a “step-motherly” fashion by delaying the release of disaster relief funds to the tune of nearly ₹38000 crore to help tide over the twin calamities of cyclone Michaung and unprecedented floods in the southern districts.
Likewise, Kerala had filed a first-of-its-kind suit directly in the apex court, blaming the Centre of arbitrarily interfering in its net borrowing limits, pushing the State to the brink of a financial emergency.
Karnataka had argued that its request for financial relief from the Centre to tide over a “grave humanitarian crisis” had hit a wall.
The State had sought Rs.18,171 crore from NDRF. Its petition said the total estimated loss due to crop damage in the State is ₹35,162 crore.
“For the Kharif 2023 season (the season starts in June and ends in September), a total of 223 out of 236 taluks are declared as drought-affected, with 196 taluks categorised as severely affected and the remaining 27 as moderately affected,” the petition said.
Karnataka had recorded -56% deficit rainfall in June, which was the third lowest in the last 122 years for the State.
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