New Delhi, 10 Dec

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Centre and the Karnataka government should resolve the issue of release of financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state for drought management.

Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, told a bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan that he needed some time to file an affidavit in the matter. "You should resolve it," the bench said.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed by the Karnataka government seeking a direction to the Centre to release financial assistance from the NDRF to the State for drought management. During the hearing, the bench asked, "How much amount is released so far?"

The counsel appearing for Karnataka said the State requested for Rs 18,171 crore and has been granted Rs 3,819 crore. The bench posted the matter for further hearing in January.

On 29 April, the Centre told the apex court that around Rs 3,400 crore has been released to the Karnataka government for drought management in the state.

The petition has sought to declare that the Centre's decision to not release the full financial assistance for drought management 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 was reeling under "severe drought", affecting the lives of its people and in the kharif 2023 season, which starts in June and ends in September, 223 of the 236 'taluks' were declared as drought-affected. The plea said 196 taluks were categorised as severely affected and the remaining 27 as moderately affected.

"Cumulatively for kharif 2023 season, the agriculture and horticulture crop loss has been reported in more than 48 lakh hectares with the estimated loss (cost of cultivation) of Rs 35,162 crore," said the plea filed through advocate D L Chidananda.

It said the assistance sought from the Centre under the NDRF was Rs 18,171.44 crore. The State was constrained to move the apex court against the "arbitrary actions" of the Centre in denying the financial assistance to Karnataka under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the manual for drought management updated in 2020, it added.

"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 was 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, the 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.