After the High Court of Karnataka cautioned the Chief Secretary about passing a drastic order on the government’s failure, the State government has finally set up the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) 13 years after the Disaster Management Act, 2005, came into force.
In his affidavit filed before the court, Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar said that a new account, by the name of SDRF, has been created, and the funds available with the heads of the existing Management of Natural Disaster, Contingency Plans in disaster-prone areas would transferred to it.
On the District Disaster Response Fund (DDRF), the Chief Secretary stated that the Calamity Personal Deposit Account of Deputy Commissioner has been converted into DDRF, and the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) would be able to operate this fund through the DC, who is the head chairperson of the DDMA.
The notifications issued last week have been submitted before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum during the hearing of PIL petitions filed by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and Mallikarjuna A., an agriculturist from Tumakuru district, on the issue of implementation of the DM Act.
During an earlier hearing, the court had viewed seriously the Chief Secretary’s two separate statements, that the SDRF would be established only in the next financial year, and that the SDRF would be set up only after the State legislature granted approval for budgetary allocation.
The Bench adjourned further hearing till March 1 while directing the government to comply with various other provisions of the DM Act.