The Supreme Court on April 22 reminded the Centre and Karnataka about the need to amicably resolve differences that arise in a federal structure, even as the Union government assured that “something will be done” to resolve the drought worries of Karnataka in a week’s time.
“Resolve this amicably. We have a federal structure. Both the Union and the States are equal partners,” a Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta addressed Attorney General R. Venkataramani, for the Union and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented Karnataka.
On April 8, in the previous hearing, the Supreme Court had questioned the Centre about the steady stream of States moving the court against the Union government. Recently, the Tamil Nadu government accused the Centre in the Supreme Court of treating the people of the State in a “step-motherly” fashion by delaying the release of disaster relief funds to the tune of nearly ₹38,000 crore to help tide over the twin calamities of cyclone Michaung and unprecedented floods in the southern districts. Likewise, Kerala filed a first-of-its-kind suit directly in the Supreme Court, blaming the Centre of arbitrarily interfering in its net borrowing limits, pushing the State to the brink of a financial emergency.
