NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict on Kerala's plea for interim relief as the State government had challenged the Centre's borrowing curbs on it.
The plea filed by the Kerala government was reserved on March 22, by a two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Surya Kant and also comprising Justice KV Viswanathan, who had extensively heard the arguments from Kerala government and Centre.
Kerala government had moved the apex court and has been pleading it to pass appropriate directions for the state's urgent financial needs before the end of the current financial year on March 31, 2024.
It is to be noted that following the suggestion of the apex court, on February 13, it had directed the Centre and Kerala government to sit and talk to resolve the issue over the cap on net borrowing. In this reagrd, both the parties also had tried for a settlement, but it failed.
The Attorney General (AG) of India, R Venakatramani, top law officer representing the Centre, had told the Supreme Court that Kerala government's finances came under the economic management policy and alleged that the State government was attempting to cover up its own failures on the issue of finances and budgeting.
The Kerala government, in its petition filed in the Top Court, has alleged that the Centre is unnecessarily interfering in State's finances and said that due to such interference, the state is not able to fulfil the commitments in its Annual Budgets.
Kerala government said that the Centre is imposing a Net Borrowing Ceiling on the State. Kerala govt said that due to the alleged interference by the Centre, this has resulted in huge arrears that it owes by way of welfare schemes to the people of the State particularly the poor and the vulnerable, various beneficiary groups, the employees of the State Government, its pensioners and dues to its State-Owned Enterprises.