HC asks Centre to come out with positive action on releasing money from NDRF for Wayanad

Tribal youth of Vaniyampuzha and Iruttukuthi off Munderi in Pothukal near Nilambur helping the search for the victims of the Wayanad tragedy in the swollen Chaliyar with their bamboo raft.
| Photo Credit: SAKEER HUSSAIN

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court (October 10, 2024) on Thursday asked the Centre to come out with some positive actions on providing money from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for Wayanad .

The Bench comprising Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Syam Kumar V .M. made the observation when a suo motu case relating to prevention and management of natural disasters registered following the Wayand landslide came up for hearing. The Bench had last time directed the Centre to respond to the issue by October 18

When the petition was taken up for hearing, the court asked Additional Solicitor General ARL Sundaresan who was present in the court to use his good offices and get some positive actions from the Centre on the issue including bank loan waiver. We need to get Wayanad back on rails as soon as possible”, the court told him.

Pleas for imposing restrictions on media reporting declined.

Meanwhile, the court declined to pass orders imposing restrictions on the media on reporting the rehabilitation and reconstructions measures in the Wayanad landslides affected areas . Sekhar L. Kuriakose, member secretary, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), who appeared online, as well as Advocate General K. Gopalakrishna Kurup sought a directive to the media to remove false news on the memorandum containing the estimated expenses submitted by the government, seeking additional immediate assistance from NDRF. They also sought a directive to the media to seek official response from the State government, KSDMA/DDMA before telecasting any news about reconstruction and rehabilitation measures. The member secretary submitted that telecasting such misleading news had made his disaster management team unhappy and they were feeling a sense of frustration.

Amicus curiae and senior lawyer Ranjith Thampan also submitted that nobody would contribute to the Chief Ministers Distress Relief Fund if misleading news are published.

The Bench, while expressing its hope that the media will exercise due care and caution while reporting news on the rehabilitation and reconstruction measures, observed that in the light of the settled law with regard to the right of freedom of speech and expression, restrictions over and above what has been contemplated in terms of 19(2) of the Constitution could not be imposed on the media.

The court told the member secretary that whatever works his team are doing, “don’t do it for media and do it for the people of Wayanad”. The court orally observed that everybody including the media has a right to express their opinion. The freedom of speech and expression is so sacrosanct in the country. Only when it comes to breaching somebody else’s fundamental rights, the court may pass orders on a case to case basis. In fact, it was only an expression of opinion by a citizen. It had to be encouraged. That is what keeps all of us in check. If you say that nobody should express a contrary opinion, then we will “go away from democracy and go into dictatorship which is not conducive to a democratic republic”.

The court also orally observed that if you occupied an important position in government, “criticism will always be there. You cannot expect everybody to say good things about you”. If you were convinced that what others say was nonsense, ignore it. That is the only way to go forward. Th court asked him to tell his team to focus on their work and not get distracted by such news.