Flood relief: Accepting foreign funds prerogative of only Centre says Kerala HC

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 30: The Kerala High Court had rejected a petition that sought a directive to the Union Government to accept foreign funds towards relief work in the flood affected Kerala.

The court while rejecting the petition observed that accepting help from another country is purely a matter of foreign policy of the Central Government. The government may have enough resources to undertake relief and reconstruction the Kerala High Court also observed.

A major controversy had broken out after Kerala Chief Minster, Pinarayi Vijayan had said that the UAE had offered Rs 700 crore for flood relief. The Centre had however maintained that it has been a policy since 2004, not to request foreign countries for help to undertake relief work in the aftermath of disasters. However later, the UAE clarified that it had made no such offer.