Enactment came 15 years back: Karnataka High Court pulls up State for unwillingness to create Response Fund under Disaster Management Act

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday pulled up the State government for failing to set up State Disaster Response Fund, envisaged under the Disaster Management Act, 2005..The Bench was hearing a batch of petitions seeking the proper implementation of the provisions of the Act when it observed,"Though Section 48 of the Disaster Management Act was brought into force on 1st August, 2007, till today, State Disaster Management Response Fund has not been established. Chief Secretary of the State government today submitted an affidavit stating that the Fund will be established in the next financial year.".Shocked by the unwillingness of the State to set up the fund, the Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice SS Magadum further observed,"13 and a half years are over since Section 48 was brought into force, still the State government is not willing to establish the Fund."."You are the State government. We are talking about an enactment which came 15 years back."Karnataka High Court.The Bench additionally noted that even the District Disaster Management Fund as required under Section 48(1)(b) has not been established..The petitioner contended that the amounts available under the funds are illegally being transferred to personal accounts of the Deputy Commissioner..After going through the contents of the affidavit filed by the government, the Bench remarked,"The affidavit shows the inability of the State to comply with relevant provisions of the DM Act"..The Court also recalled that on October 24, 2019, it had directed the State to place on the record the details of all the Funds to be formulated under Section 48 of the DM Act..With regard to the State Disaster Response Fund, in addition to Rs. 210.8 crore, another Rs. 150 crore was allocated on Wednesday, the Bench was told. However, during the hearing, counsel appearing for the State government submitted that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is yet to issue guidelines for the administration of the Fund..Hearing this submission, an irritated CJ Oka queried,"Which provision says that unless guidelines are issued by the Centre, you cannot form or utilize funds? Which law requires you to do that? Show us.".The Court has now directed the State to place on record whether it is willing to form District Disaster Response Fund immediately and not during the next financial year..If this is not done, the Court warned that it would issue a writ of mandamus. The matter has been adjourned to February 2.