Thiruvananthapuram: A discussion that took place on Thursday between Kerala and Centre to settle the dispute over raising the borrowing limit of the state failed to yield results. The talks were held based on instructions of the Supreme Court.
The Kerala delegation led by Finance Minister K N Balagopal discussed the issue with the Central Finance Secretary and other officials in Delhi. “The Centre did not accept the demands of Kerala,” said Balagopal after the meeting.
At the briefing, Balagopal said the case is about fiscal federalism and the main issues were not resolved at today's meeting. "The discussions were not successful."
From the meeting, Balagopal said, it appears that the ongoing case is seen as a hindrance in discussing the important issues raised by the state.
Kerala had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an increase in the borrowing limit and Central authorities expressed their displeasure over it during the discussion.
“Officers at the Central Finance Ministry asked us how we could negotiate when the matter was under the consideration of the court,” said Balagopal.
“We have submitted a petition to the Central officers listing our urgent requirements. We have to wait for their response,” he added.
Apart from Balagopal, the Kerala delegation included the Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary K M Abraham, Principal Secretary of the state Finance Department Rabindra Kumar Agarwal and Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup.
The Central team comprised Finance Secretary T V Somanathan, Additional Solicitor General N Venkitaraman, Additional Secretary Sajjan Singh Yadav and Joint Secretary Amita Singh Negi.
Even though Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was present in the office, she did not take part in the discussion.
State and Central officials will meet again on Friday to thrash out details regarding accounts. Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed Kerala and the Centre to seek a solution to the issue through discussions and inform it about the results of the negotiations on February 19.
Kerala had approached the Supreme Court seeking to quash two orders passed by the Centre on the borrowing limit of Kerala. The state urged the apex court to issue an urgent order in view of the upcoming Parliament elections. It argued that even provident fund payments would be jeopardized if the borrowing limit was not raised.