Wayanad Landslides | Kerala High Court Slams State Government For Failure To Explain Available Balance In State's Disaster Response Fund

For context, it is admitted that Rs. 782.99 crore is available in the SDRF. The State government submitted before the Court that they are unable to use funds allocated by the central government for immediate assistance without showing that 50 per cent of the funds in the SDRF have been utilized.

The State government, along with the Finance Officer of the Department of Disaster Management submitted before the Court that 677 crores must be the amount available in the SDRF, however, they were unable to specify what percentage of this amount could be allocated for disaster relief in Wayanad.

Criticising the inability of the state government to give clear details regarding the funds in SDRF, the bench of Justice A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Mohammed Nias C.P., remarked that this was unacceptable.

Court stated orally, “You have 677 crores in your bank account (SDRF), there is a need now you do not know how much you can spend because you say you have some prior commitments. You must have some idea of what is available to spend today, when you say there are 677 crores in your account. Any reasonable person should know...can you give us a rough estimate? Because if you are not able to give us a statement, even an approximate, no point in having this discussion saying that we have not got this money, we don't have this money.”

Further, the Court questioned how the State Government could request further assistance from the Central Government if it was unable to provide details about the funds in the SDRF or clarify the expenditures.

The Court stated that unless it was shown how much money was available to spend from the SDRF, it could not pass orders directing the Central Government to allocate funds for assistance.

The Court stated that as long as the State government wants to borrow money from the Central government, it must satisfy the genuineness of its claims to convince the borrower.

“You have 677 crores apparently, but it is not here. Once you have a clarity regarding that, we can direct the central government to not insist on procedures, please sanction funds, this is our need, please help us…When it comes to the need of the people, we need to ensure that the money is obtained fast, we are only concerned with Article 21….You must understand there is a collateral damage here,….this is actually delaying, shifting the focus from the real issue. July was the disaster, this is December now.” stated the Court orally.

The Court has posted the matter to Thursday (December 12) for a detailed report from the state government.

Case Title: In Re: Prevention And Management Of Natural Disasters In Kerala V State Of Kerala

Case Number: WP(C) 28509/ 2024 & Connected Cases