Tamil Nadu moves Supreme Court alleging Centre is not releasing ₹37k crore for flood relief

The Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court alleging that the Central government was not releasing relief funds for damages caused by natural calamities..In its plea filed as an original suit, the Tamil Nadu government has asked the Court to issue directions to the Union government to extend over ₹37,000 crore of aid towards relief for damages caused by the recent floods and cyclone Maichung."There is no justification in delaying the release of funds. The differential treatment in the release of funds in comparison to other states is tantamount to class discrimination. It violates the fundamental rights of those who have suffered due to calamities and faced greater hardships and irreparable losses. This step-motherly treatment violates the National Disaster Management Policy, including financial relations and the federal nature of tax division," the plea said.The suit noted that despite several requests, the Union government has not relented.The State has prayed that directions should be issued to the Central government to consider its representations towards release of ₹19,692.69 crore as financial assistance for the damage caused by cyclone Michaung in December 2023 and such funds should be released within a time frame fixed by the top court. Further, ₹18,214.52 crore has been sought as aid towards damages caused by unprecedented and extremely heavy rainfall in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu in December. The suit pointed out that the Central government has not yet acted on the report of an inter-ministerial team that visited the site to assess the damage caused by the natural calamities.Such inaction is ex-facie illegal, arbitrary and violative of fundamental rights of the people of the State, it was underscored. The same hampers the State's development and causes mental agony and hardships to its people, the plea added..Tamil Nadu's suit was filed through advocate D Kumanan and settled by Senior Advocate P Wilson.TN is the second State to move the top court recently alleging that Centre was not releasing funds to mitigate natural disaster.Just recently, the Karnataka government had moved the Supreme Court alleging that the Centre was not extending financial assistance to the State to tide over a drought situation. The Congress government said that directions should be issued to extend relief of ₹18,171.44 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).