New Delhi: New Delhi: The Supreme Court asked the Union and various state governments not to make it a contest as many are approaching the top court, while hearing a Karnataka government's plea demanding Rs 35,162 crore from the Centre towards drought relief.
At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said there was no need for the state government to file a petition and at some level the problem could have been resolved. “These communications solve the problem?”, queried a bench comprising justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta. Justice Gavai told Mehta that the court sees various state governments moving the court. Mehta replied that he does not wish to say why and “there is a growing tendency, which needs to be….”.
The bench told Mehta it hopes that with his intervention it stops. Mehta urged the court to consider the matter after two weeks. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Karnataka government, said under the law the matter should have been decided within one month and that month was over in December 2023 and “the law is here and let us not get into a contention….”.
After a brief hearing in the matter, the bench decided to issue notice on Karnataka government’s plea. However, Mehta urged the court to not issue notice in the matter and added, “we are here”. Attorney General R Venkataramani, representing the Centre, said, “we will come back and tell…”.
“Solicitor General appearing on advanced notice states that they would seek instructions in the matter….”, noted the apex court, in its order. Mehta contended that he will take instructions and respond. The bench accepted Mehta’s contention regarding the response in the matter and scheduled the matter for further hearing after two weeks.
Karnataka government’s plea submitted that the action of the Central Government in denying the financial assistance to the State is ex- facie violative of the fundamental rights of the people of Karnataka guaranteed under Articles 14, 21 of the Constitution of India.
“Further, the impugned action of the Central Government is violative of statutory scheme of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Manual for Drought Management and the Guidelines on Constitution and Administration of the State Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Response Fund”, said the plea.
The Congress government said the Union government's Ministry of Home Affairs has failed to take a final decision and release the financial assistance from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state for drought relief, though six months have lapsed since filing of a report by the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT).
The plea contended that Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, affecting the lives of its people. “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 categorized as severely affected and the remaining 27 categorized as moderately affected”, said the plea.
The plea contended that the doctrine of parens patriae recognises the State as protector of its citizens particularly when citizens are not able to protect themselves. "Agriculture is a primary source of livelihood for a large section of state. The present drought situation has damaged crops and affected livestock, leading to lower yields, reduced income for farmers, and increased food prices. The situation has a major economic impact resulting from losses in agriculture, impacting jobs, incomes, and overall economic growth of the State," it said.
The state government contended that there was an inordinate delay by the MHA in convening a high level committee meeting to approve the quantum of relief from NDRF.
The plea filed by advocate D L Chidananda contended the Centre's action in not releasing the financial assistance for drought arrangement as per the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) is ex-facie illegal, arbitrary and violative of fundamental rights guaranteed to its citizens under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
