Let there not be a contest between Union and State: Supreme Court on Karnataka plea for drought relief funds

The Supreme Court on Monday remarked that there should not be any contest between the Union and State government, as it asked the Central government to respond to the petition moved by Karnataka government for release of drought relief funds [State of Karnataka vs Union of India and ors]..A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said that various State governments were now approaching the court."Let there not be a contest between Union and State," it said..The bench was hearing a plea by the Karnataka government alleging that the Central government was not extending financial assistance to the State to tide over the drought situation in certain areas.The State government in its plea said that it was constrained to approach the top court as the Central government's alleged arbitrary actions have resulted in violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Karnataka.The Union government has not yet acted upon an Inter-Ministerial Central Team report on the disaster for nearly six months now and the same has been aggravated due to the withholding of National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) benefits to the State, it alleged..Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, told the Court that instead of filing a petition under Article 32, the State government could have communicated with the Union.He also questioned the timing of the PIL before the Lok Sabha elections. "Instead of filing 32 they would have talked to us ... We know the timing of these petitions. Lordships may not issue notice, it also becomes a news," Mehta submitted..Following this, the Court asked SG Mehta as well as the Attorney General R Venkataramani, who also appeared in the matter to get back with instructions within two weeks.Karnataka's plea was filed through advocate DL Chidananda and settled through Senior Counsel Devadatt Kamat and Advocate General (AG) K Shashi Kiran Shetty..Karnataka government is the latest State to approach the Supreme Court with allegations against the Central government.Similarly, the Tamil Nadu government has also approached the Supreme Court alleging that the Central government was not releasing relief funds for damages caused by natural calamities.Kerala government's suit alleging Centre’s alleged interference with the State’s power to borrow and regulate its own finances, is also pending before the Supreme Court. It has been referred to a Constitution bench.Last year, Punjab government had also moved the top court over non-reimbursement of statutory fees allegedly running into over ₹4,000 crores that the State had levied on behalf of the Central government during procurement of food grains.