KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday orally observed that the letter issued by the Union minister of state for home affairs did not state that the Centre will not grant any more funds to Kerala for the rehabilitation of the Wayanad landslide survivors. Instead, it clarified that “under the existing guidelines of SDRF/NDRF, there is no provision to declare any calamity as a national disaster.”
However, the state government submitted that the letter gives the impression that the Centre does not intend to provide any further assistance to Kerala.
Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup produced the letter sent by the Union minister to Prof K V Thomas, the state government’s special representative in the New Delhi, and said no additional funds would be given other than what has been already allocated.
To this, a division bench said, “They don’t say they will not grant any more funds.” The letter says the Centre will be providing continued assistance. At the same time, media reports say contrary to the information in the letter, giving the impression that the Centre would not grant any more funds to Kerala.
“When we read the letter it doesn’t give such an impression,” said the Division Bench comprising Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice K V Jayakumar. The AG replied the letter gave the impression that the Centre did not intend to give immediate assistance to the state.
Assistant Solicitor General of India A R L Sundaresan said as of now sufficient funds are available in Kerala’s SDRF account for relief operations. He said a high-level committee meeting to decide on declaring the landslides at Mundakkai and Chooralmala in Wayanad as falling under the L3 category (A nearly catastrophic situation that overwhelmed the state and district authorities) is yet to happen, but will soon be done.
The court said waiver of loans of the landslide survivors is the main concern, and asked Sundaresan to expedite the process. The court said each department should have a disaster management plan as per the suggestion in the amicus curiae report. “What actions have been taken,” asked the court, to which the ASG replied that the Centre is looking into it.