The Kerala government moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) against a State High Court decision to keep in abeyance the ‘Nava Keralam Citizen Response Programme’, a public outreach and development feedback initiative to obtain suggestions from the public on development and welfare measures.
Setback to Kerala govt as HC quashes LDF’s Nava Kerala Citizen Response Programme
The special leave petition filed by the State government, represented by advocate C.K. Sasi, submitted that the High Court intruded into matters of public policy not only to stall a programme approved by the council of Ministers of the State but further to set aside consequential financial sanction and budgetary proceedings.
“The High Court interfered with the government’s power to implement governance and development outreach programmes and seriously prejudiced the ability of the State to take policy decisions involving public expenditure and thus disturbed the constitutional balance between the executive and judiciary,” the petition submitted.
The Kerala government said the programme was envisaged as a time-bound statewide exercise to be conducted from January 2026 to February 2026 for collection of public opinion and suggestions regarding development and welfare schemes through a multi-level mechanism involving State, district and local-level coordination, as well as volunteers drawn from the Social Volunteer Force portal.
