K'taka drought funds: Let there not be contest between govt, state, says SC

Let there not be a "contest" between the Union and the state, the Supreme Court said on Monday while hearing the Karnataka government's plea seeking a direction to the Centre to release financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state for drought management. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was told by Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who were appearing for the Centre, that they would seek instructions in the matter. The apex court, which observed that various state governments were required to approach the court, initially asked the Centre to file a response to Karnataka's plea. Urging the court to take up the matter after two weeks, the solicitor general said they would take instructions in the matter. "Let there not be a contest between the Union and the state," the bench said. Mehta said instead of filing a petition in the top court, if somebody would have spoken to the authorities on the issue