Drought relief: Centre promises to quickly find solution for Karnataka's demand

The central government on Monday told the Supreme Court that the Election Commission has permitted it to render assistance to Karnataka to overcome the prevailing drought situation in the state.

Appearing on behalf of the Centre, attorney general R Venkataramani informed a division bench headed by Justice BR Gavai that the matter would be dealt with expeditiously and a constructive development would take place shortly.

Recording the submission of the AG, the bench verbally observed that the solution must be found "amicably" since it was a federal structure. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the Karnataka government, did not oppose the request for adjournment of the case.


The development took place during the resumed hearing of a plea filed by the Karnataka government, alleging that the Centre was not extending financial assistance to the state to tackle the drought situation. The state government accused the Centre of "arbitrary actions", resulting in denial of fundamental rights of the people of Karnataka.

The state government said the Centre had not yet acted upon an inter-ministerial central team report on the drought impact for nearly six months now. The situation has aggravated due to the withholding of the National Disaster Response Fund benefits to the state, it claimed.