The Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the Andhra Pradesh government from transferring funds from the State Disaster Response Fund to a personal deposit account, saying it is a very serious issue.
The plea by former MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao, a resident of Andhra Pradesh, said at a time when the top court was actively and continuously monitoring the implementation of its October 2021 order dealing with the issue of disbursing ex-gratia assistance of Rs 50,000 to next of kin of Covid-19 victims, the diversion of funds by the AP government from the SDRF to personal deposit account was not only against the law of the land but was also contemptuous in nature.
Advocate Gaurav Bansal, representing Rao, submitted before a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna that the AP government diverting funds from SDRF to personal deposit account, was not permissible under the Disaster Management Act.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, submitted that the Ministry of Finance has questioned the state on the issue.
The bench issued notice to the state government and asked it not to divert funds under the Disaster Management Act.
It also directed the state government to not utilise the funds which they have transferred to other accounts under DM Act.
The plea referred to a letter issued on March 12, 2022, by Minister of State for Finance, Government of India which clearly said that Andhra Pradesh government received an amount of Rs 324.15 crore as the central share of State Disaster Response Fund and an amount of Rs 570.91 crore under National Disaster Response Fund.
“The letter also mentioned that State of Andhra Pradesh has transferred the funds from State Disaster Response Fund to Personal Deposit Account without spending on immediate relief," the plea claimed.
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