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Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressed gratitude towards the Supreme Court after the Centre assured swift action on Karnataka's drought relief plea stating that this is a milestone and a success in their long fight for justice and relief.
In a post on X Siddaramaiah said, "This is a milestone and a success in our long fight to secure justice and relief for the people of Karnataka." He further said that the current government who delayed the relief fund has finally agreed because of SC's intervention. "Thanks to the intervention of the Hon Supreme Court, the Central Government, which had delayed providing drought relief funds to the farmers of Karnataka, has agreed to make a decision within this week," the tweet added. The tweet further stated, "Karnataka was forced to file a writ petition against the Central Government in court seeking drought relief funds, as the Central Government had not made a decision on our memorandum, which was submitted in September 2023." Earlier, the Centre informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it will resolve expeditiously issues related to the Karnataka government's plea seeking financial assistance for drought relief and something will happen by April 29. Attorney General R Venkataramani, representing the Centre apprised the court that the Election Commission has allowed the Union government to deal with the issue and something will happen before next Monday (April 29). AG Venkataramani also apprised the bench of justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta it will be done expeditiously and no argument is needed now. Justice Gavai observing the federal structure remarked that this has to happen amicably. The court adjourned the matter for further hearing on April 19. The court was hearing the Karnataka government's plea seeking financial assistance for drought relief. The Karnataka Government was represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal. Karnataka Government, in the plea filed through advocate DL Chidananda, urged the top court to direct the Centre to forthwith take a final decision and release the financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state. The plea also sought to declare that the action of the government in not releasing the financial assistance for drought arrangement as per the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) is Ex-Facie violative of the fundamental rights of the people of the State of Karnataka guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The Karnataka Government said that the impugned action of the Central Government in denying financial assistance to the State is ex-facie violative of the fundamental rights of the people of Karnataka guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Further, the impugned action of the Central Government is violative of the statutory scheme of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Manual for Drought Management and the Guidelines on Constitution and Administration of the State Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Response Fund, the state government said. Karnataka Government submitted that under the Manual for Drought Management, the Central Government is required to make a final decision on the assistance to the State from the NDRF within a month of the receipt of the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT). The plea said that Karnataka is reeling under severe drought, affecting the lives of its citizens. "For the Kharif 2023 season as a whole, after fulfilling all the Indicators of the Manual for Drought Management 2020, a total of 223 out of 236 taluks are declared as drought-affected during Kharif 2023 with 196 taluks categorized as severely affected and the remaining 27 categorized as moderately affected. (ANI)
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