Kerala HC sets aside state’s household survey programme ahead of Assembly polls

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday quashed an order issued by the state government on October 10 launching the Nava Kerala Citizen Response Programme, The Hindu reported. The programme aimed to collect feedback from households on welfare measures through committees and volunteers.

A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar VM said that the state government cannot use public funds and machinery for a large-scale household survey that resembles a political campaign ahead of the Assembly elections, Bar and Bench reported.

The Kerala Assembly elections are expected to be held in April.

The court said that the Rs 20 crore allocated for the survey from the public exchequer had been sanctioned without financial approval or budgetary clearance, the legal news outlet reported.

While the state government is not barred from undertaking welfare measures or conducting surveys related to schemes, any expenditure incurred “must have a financial sanction and pass muster with the financial rules”, the bench said.

The court added that it was not questioning the Cabinet’s wisdom in undertaking such a study. “But for executing and implementing such study, funds [outside] the financial rules are utilised and such irregularities if are brought on record, the court has a duty to declare such utilisation of funds as illegal,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.

The bench also restrained the...

Read more