In what is being seen as a setback for the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, a division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Pinarayi Vijayan dispensation to halt the Nava Keralam programme.
The LDF had come under attack from the Opposition, which alleged that the ruling alliance had deployed party cadres for a government-funded survey to take the Vijayan government’s achievements from door to door ahead of the Assembly elections.
What is the Nava Keralam programme?
A citizen response initiative, the Nava Keralam was launched by the state government on January 1 under the aegis of the Information and Public Relations Department (IPRD). It was touted to be a survey to gather public opinion on welfare projects and take into account people’s demands. The government had allotted Rs 20 crore to the department for the programme.
Trained volunteers from the voluntary force launched by the government in 2021 for local-level disaster mitigation were pressed into action for the survey.
What went wrong with the initiative?
In September last year, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan issued a circular to party cadres asking them to be a part of the volunteer force, a month before the Vijayan Cabinet took up the survey for discussions.
In their petition before the High Court, leaders of the KSU, the Congress’s student wing in Kerala, alleged that the CPI(M) circular being issued before the Cabinet decision showed political intention and was evidence of how “public funds were being exploited for political gains” by the ruling party.
Govindan, who was listed as a party in the PIL, could not offer a convincing reply on why he issued a directive to the party cadres much before the matter was tabled before the Cabinet.
What did the HC consider?
The larger question that the high court considered was “whether a political party should be the face of the government and influence the government in designing its events to suit the political needs of the party, and whether, in the process of implementing such policies, the utilisation of the public exchequer without sanction under the Rules of Business can be justified”.
Though the policies of a government are beyond the jurisdiction of the Court under Article 226, the High Court said it can examine whether the matter is affected by arbitrariness, unreasonableness, violation of fundamental rights and/or violation of statutory provisions.
Why did the HC quash the Nava Keralam?
The court said the government has the power to undertake welfare measures and to devise programmes to reach out to the people in order to gather the responses of citizens with regard to the welfare measures undertaken.
But, the court said the initiative is not within the business of the IPRD, which was given Rs 20 crore for the scheme, and said the order is in violation of the rules of allocation of business and concomitant Budget allocation.
The Cabinet decision was neither placed before the Legislature, though the Legislature was in session when it was taken, nor it was placed subsequently for its consideration. The Cabinet cannot proceed on the assumption that its decision involving additional expenditure would ultimately be approved by the Legislature, the court observed.
What does the government say?
Law Minister P Rajeev said that the government was mulling the option of appealing against the High Court verdict. And that the court directive will have “far-reaching consequences” with regard to the conduct of the day-to-day business of a government.