The Supreme Court on Wednesday regretted that the Centre was not doing enough to enforce its judgment on effective drought management upon the States. The Court wondered how the Centre can raise its hands in helplessness when a law passed by Parliament is being violated with impunity by States.
The Court was dealing with a petition filed by Swaraj Abhiyan, which pointed out the deficiencies in administering relief to drought affected areas. In May this year the Court had passed a slew of directions directing the Centre and States to implement the Food Security Act and the National Disaster Management Act in its existing form.
As a follow up of its decision, the bench of Justices Madan B lokur and NV Ramana was informed by petitioner’s counsel Prashant Bhushan that many directions given by Court have not been realised. The Court found little support from Centre as ASG PS Narasimha pointed out that compliance by States cannot be enforced by Centre.
The bench allowed Bhushan to file contempt petitions against the erring states and concerned officials and posted the case for hearing on October 24.