The Kerala High Court on Friday sharply criticised hartals (strikes) called by the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) on November 19 (Tuesday) in landslide-hit Wayanad [In Re: Prevention and Management of Natural Disasters in Kerala].

The two political parties had called for the hartal to protest the apparent delay in receiving financial aid from the Central government to help with the continuing rehabilitation efforts in Wayanad.

A Bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar VM today slammed the flash hartals conducted earlier this week as distressing and anti-people.

"We read something very disturbing, both UDF and LDF called for a hartal. This is so anti-people. Flash hartals like these, despite court orders against them, are unacceptable. The opposition UDF, which announced it wouldn’t support such actions, participated. Hartals are meant for grave injustices. What purpose does this serve? Does it address the disaster or the larger issue? Saying the Centre isn’t giving funds and calling for a hartal, as if that would bring funds. This is simply unreasonable," the Court said.

The Bench added a note of caution that such conduct will be viewed strictly by the Court in future.

"Please inform the government and the political parties that such conduct will not be tolerated by the Court. When it is anything anti-people, all parties seem to come together. This is a very distressing conduct," Justice Nambiar said.

The Court was hearing a suo motu case initiated to monitor disaster relief efforts in Wayanad, which is yet to recover after suffering devastating landslides that hit the area on July 30 this year.

In earlier hearings, the Court had expressed concern over delays noticed in disbursing Central funds to Kerala to help with rehabilitation work.

The Central government had earlier explained that the release of National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) funds usually requires post-disaster assessments and inspections, which were ongoing in Wayanad's case.

It added that Kerala could use the surplus remaining in its State Disaster Relief Funds (SDRF), which includes contributions from the Centre, in the meant time for immediate relief.

This stance had been opposed by the State as well as the amicus, which pointed out that NDRF funds had earlier been released in other States without any such final assessment.

The Central government has now filed an affidavit which said that after a recent high level committee meeting held on November 16, financial assistance of ₹153.467 crores has been approved for release from the NDRF, which would be adjusted against funds remaining in the SDRF.

Additionally, financial assistance has also been approved for airdropping essential supplies and for clearing debris, the Centre said.

In the latest affidavit, the Centre added that the Kerala government had conducted a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and estimated that about ₹2,219.03 crores was needed for reconstruction efforts. However, a report on this estimate was only submitted to the Centre on November 13, the Centre said.

The matter will be heard next on December 6.

Senior Advocate Ranjith Thampan appeared as amicus curiae. The Central government was represented by Advocate Suvin R Menon.

[Read Order]