Supreme Court to hear Karnataka’s plea for financial assistance for drought management in July

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Karnataka government, said the state will file an affidavit in the matter. The bench posted the matter for hearing in July.

During the hearing last week, Sibal had told the bench that ₹3,450 crore has been released but the state’s request was for assistance of ₹18,000 crore.

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The petition

The petition has sought to declare that the Union government’s action in not releasing the financial assistance for drought arrangement according to the NDRF is “ex-facie violative” of the fundamental rights of the people of the state guaranteed under articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

It said the state is reeling under “severe drought”, affecting the lives of its people and for the kharif 2023 season, which starts in June and ends in September, a total of 223 out of 236 taluks are declared as drought-affected.

The plea said 196 taluks are categorised as severely affected and the remaining 27 as moderately affected.

“Cumulatively for kharif 2023 season, the agriculture and horticulture crop loss have been reported in more than 48 lakh hectares with the estimated loss (cost of cultivation) of ₹35,162 crore,” the plea, filed through advocate DL Chidananda, said.

It said the assistance sought from the Union governmnet under the NDRF is ₹18,171.44 crore.

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‘Arbitrary actions’

It said the state is constrained to move the apex court against the “arbitrary actions” of the Centre in denying the financial assistance for drought management to Karnataka under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the manual for drought management updated in 2020.

“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,” the plea said.

It said under the manual for drought management, the Centre is required to take a final decision on the assistance to the state from the NDRF within a month of the receipt of the inter-ministerial central team (IMCT).

“Despite the IMCT report, which visited various drought affected districts from 4 to 9 October, 2023 and made a comprehensive assessment of drought situation in the state and consideration of the said report by the sub-committee of the National Executive Committee constituted under section 9 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Centre has not taken a final decision on the assistance to the state from the NDRF even after a lapse of almost six months from the date of the said report,” the plea said.

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