The Supreme Court on Monday told the Jammu and Kashmir government that it “cannot force” the Centre to take a quick decision on its over 44,000 crore demand for relief and rehabilitation work of the Srinagar flood victims. “We cannot be forcing them to take a decision tomorrow,” a bench comprising Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Justice A K Sikri said. “Appropriate decision will be taken by the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission”. While the state government has demanded a central grant of Rs 44,000 crore for the rehabilitation of flood victims, the Centre has announced over Rs 1,700 crore assistance to the state. Senior advocates Colin Gonsalves, appearing for an NGO, and Bhim Singh of the J&K National Panthers Party told the court that the State Disaster Management Authority was “not functioning properly” and that the disaster management committee had not been constituted. The court then asked the state to file a report by November 24, the next date of hearing, on the relief work undertaken so far by the authority. “The state has said that the authority has been constituted and it is functioning. However, the Advocate General has not been able inform us about the decisions taken by it,” noted the court.
