BENGALURU: Karnataka has approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Centre to release Rs 18,171 crore drought relief to the state under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
Why the state approached SC?
After approaching the Centre with three memorandums between September and November 2023 and meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 19 and Home Minister Amit Shah on December 20, Karnataka found that none of its efforts yielded results. Then Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chose the legal route. “Not even a paisa was released to the state,” he had said.
“After exhausting all our options, we have exercised our statutory right under Article 32 of the Constitution with a writ petition as the Centre failed to render the financial assistance to the state which is its obligation under Disaster Management Act 2005,” Siddaramaiah said while justifying the decision to approach the SC.
He said the state government has given Rs 2,000 each to 33,44,000 farmers by releasing Rs 650 crore from the state’s treasury, released Rs 450 crore for fodder and Rs 870 crore for drinking water.
In its writ petition, the state government made the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) respondent No. 1 as it had to decide on releasing the NDRF funds. Not releasing funds is ‘ex-facie violative’ of fundamental rights of the people of Karnataka guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, the state contended.
Situation on the ground
Karnataka declared 223 out of 236 taluks drought-affected. The crop loss has been reported in over 48 lakh hectares with the estimated loss of Rs 35,162 crore. The state government sought Rs 18,171.44 crore under NDRF including Rs 4,663.12 crore towards crop loss input subsidy, Rs 12,577.9 crore towards gratuitous relief to families whose livelihood has been affected, Rs 566.78 crore for addressing shortage of drinking water and Rs 363.68 crore towards cattle care. Many parts of the state including the IT capital Bengaluru are facing a severe drinking water shortage.
The Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) visited Karnataka in October and assessed the situation first-hand and filed its report to the Centre.
Opposition terms it politically motivated
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka termed the state moving SC a politically motivated decision, and it is a dark day in the history of Karnataka. “Siddaramaiah should learn from (Congress-ruled) Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on how to work with the Centre in a federal system,” the BJP leader said.
JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy termed it Siddaramaiah’s political stunt.
The Siddaramaiah government has been on a confrontation mode with the Centre on several occasions. On February 7, the CM along with the state’s legislators and MPs held a protest in the national capital, alleging that the Centre had denied the state’s share of Rs 1,87,867 crore under the 15th Finance Commission besides over Rs 45,000 crore in tax devolution in the last four years. On February 22, the government passed two resolutions --one condemning the Centre for the denial of state’s tax share and another in support of farmers protesting for the legalisation of MSP for all the agricultural crops.
The timing
The state approaching the SC coincides with the Lok Sabha polls. The government, however, maintains that it has nothing to do with elections as they have approached the SC after exhausting all options in the last six months. All along they have been hoping that the Centre would release funds. Centre-state relations are likely to be an issue in the Lok Sabha elections as Congress has accused the BJP-ruled Centre of meting out “step-motherly treatment” to Congress-ruled Karnataka. The issue is likely to come to the fore as the polls come closer with the BJP-JDS alliance taking on the Congress over it.