Kerala High Court Asks Centre If It Can 'Free Up' State Of ₹180 Crore Arrears To Enable Utilisation Of SDRF Funds For Wayanad Rehabilitation
Tellmy Jolly
18 Dec 2024 12:15 PM IST
The Kerala High Court today asked the Central government to consider relaxing SDRF/ NDRF norms so that State government is 'freed up' of ₹180 crore outstanding debt and can put the same for use in Wayanad rehabilitation works.
The observation was made by division bench of Justice A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Easwaran S, considering the pressing need for assistance in landslide-hit Wayanad.
The State had informed the Court that out of the total ₹782.99 crores available in State Disaster Response Fund, about ₹120 crore are to be paid to Centre towards arrears of airlifting services provided in 2006, 2016, 2017, and ₹60 crore towards other pending bills. In addition to this, State said there are other commitments, leaving only ₹61.03 crores available for use.
Court orally remarked that there is no pressing emergency to collect the outstanding amount from the State at this point of time. Regarding the reminder that was send on October 2024 for paying the debts, the Court said, “Now this is the letter which is sent from New Delhi on 22nd of October settlement of outstanding airlift charges. why would Delhi sent settlement of airlift charges pertaining to 2016, 2017 magically on October 2024. when in 6 six years , it was not doing..2016, 2017 also magically why would they send a reminder on 22nd of October 2024. The reminding came because the landslide happened on July and after that the requests started coming. so when somebody makes a request, you say you are already in debt. this is the psychology. what we want to do here is to removal all this psychological things."
The State has already filed an executive summary showing past commitments and anticipated expenses for the future.
The Court was of the opinion that if the State government is relieved of the arrears through relaxation of SDRF/NDRF norms, then these funds could be used for immediate assistance in Wayanad.
It said, “We are informed that the matter can be taken up with the Central government so that the Central government can consider grant of necessary relaxations. The Central government can consider the issue of relaxations of SDRF/NDRF norms to enable the State government to utilize the aforesaid amounts immediately for the purposes of rehabilitation of landslide victims in Wayanad.”
The Court thus directed the Central government to consider the request and take a stand by January 10, 2025.
The matter is again listed tomorrow, where the Court will consider feasibility of proposal to conduct Sunburn festival in Wayanad for New Year celebrations. It orally said,
"...already we are doing studies on carrying capacity. You are talking about so many people coming to Wayanad for new year. We need complete details, have you got any permission. Who is granting such permissions and what is expected crowd? How will crowd and traffic be managed? Barely out of one disaster, now plunging into another disaster."
Case Title: In Re: Prevention And Management Of Natural Disasters In Kerala V State Of Kerala
Case Number: WP(C) 28509/ 2024 & Connected Cases
