SC Hears Petition Related To Drought Relief Amount, Calls For No Conflict Between States And Centre

New Delhi, April 9 (TNA) The Supreme Court on Monday heard a petition seeking the release of financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Karnataka for drought management. The apex court while hearing a petition seeking release of financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Karnataka for drought management. The Supreme Court said that there should be no conflict between the Center and the state.

Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the central government. He told a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta that they would seek instructions in the matter. The Supreme Court said that various state governments have to approach the court. The top court asked the Center to file its reply to Karnataka's petition.

Solicitor General Mehta urged the apex court to hear the case after two weeks and said he would take instructions on the matter. The bench said, there should not be a conflict between the Center and the state. Mehta said that if someone had spoken to the authorities on the issue instead of filing a petition in the Supreme Court, the problem could have been resolved.

The bench said we have seen that various state governments have had to approach the court. On this Mehta said, I do not want to say why this had to be done, but this trend has increased.

The bench said that the top law officers who appeared on advance notice had said that they would take instructions. The petition also seeks a declaration that the Centre's action in not releasing financial assistance for drought relief under the NDRF is prima facie violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the people of the State under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. ILast year, 223 out of 236 taluks were declared drought-hit for the Kharif season from June to September.