'Drought relief for Karnataka made as per guidelines of SDRF, NDRF,' Centre tells Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Centre has told the Supreme Court that the release of the financial assistance to Karnataka for drought relief is strictly in accordance with the Guidelines on Constitution and Administration of the State Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Response Fund issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

"The release of the financial assistance has been made by the Union of India in substantial consonance with the recommendation of Sub Committee of National Executive Committee, based on the items and norms of assistance under NDRF and the Report of the IMCT," Attorney General R Venkatramani submitted before the court.

In view of the due and necessary actions taken by the Union of India in consonance with the framework of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the norms and principles which have been enunciated under the Act, no case has been made out for any further adjudication of the subject in question, he said in a note.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, which took up the writ petition filed by Karnataka on Monday, allowed the state government to counter the Centre's claim that it had not given data.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said the state government would file an affidavit in the case as the Centre's own policy required them to consider the data provided by it.

The court fixed the matter for consideration after summer vacations.

On April 29, the court sought furnishing of “Inter-Ministerial Central Team Report on Field Assessment in Karnataka: Responder to the Request for Financial Assistance from NDRF for Drought Mitigation Measures during Kharif 2023 by the Government of Karnataka” before it.

The court had then also directed for sharing the report with the Karnataka government.

The Karnataka government had then contended that the Centre's decision to release Rs 3,454 crore to it for drought relief was insufficient and far less than what was asked for.

On April 26, the Centre released Rs 3,454 crore to Karnataka under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for drought relief.

The official order by the Ministry of Finance had stated that a high powered committee had approved the release of Rs 3,498.82 crore as drought relief but released Rs 3,454.22 crore as Rs 40.60 crore was already with the state under State Disaster Response Fund. 

The state had sought Rs 18,174 crore in September 2023 under the NDRF to take up relief works in drought-hit areas. This request included Rs 5,662 crore for compensating farmers who suffered crop losses during the kharif season due to inadequate rainfall.

Karnataka had declared 223 taluks as drought affected on September 13, 2023. It also claimed that due to drought, crops were damaged on 48 lakh hectares, resulting in a loss of Rs 35,162 crore.