1 November 2026
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant opened the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Kerala High Court at Kochi, seventy years after the Court came into being. He said the pioneering women judges who began at this Court, Justice Anna Chandy and Justice Fathima Beevi, had shaped the thinking of the collegium and the Supreme Court on women in the higher judiciary. He credited that example with his own push to get the Bar Council of India, the State Bar Councils and Bar Associations to reserve 30% representation for women members of the Bar. He also urged steps to build up trust in the High Courts as the first and natural forum for constitutional relief, with listing made clearer and easier to predict. A litigant's access to timely justice must not depend on the ability to travel to the national capital, he said. Kerala High Court Chief Justice Soumen Sen presided, and the guests of honour were Supreme Court judge S.V.N. Bhatti and the Union Minister of State holding Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal. P. Balakrishna Menon, who at the age of 100 holds the Guinness world record for the longest career as a practising lawyer, was honoured with life membership of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association. The Chief Justice of India also released a documentary on two hundred years of the State's judicial history.
Reservation for women in Bar bodies:
30%
Years marked:
70
Why it matters for exams: Names Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Kerala High Court Chief Justice Soumen Sen, the pioneering women judges Anna Chandy and Fathima Beevi, and the 30% reservation for women members in Bar bodies.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
KHCAA Kerala High Court Advocates Association — The association of advocates practising before the Kerala High Court.
31 October 2026
The Kerala High Court has allowed an accused person's counsel to view CCTV footage from the place of occurrence while refusing to hand over a copy of it, in order to protect the privacy of a child victim. Justice Jobin Sebastian directed the trial judge to arrange for the counsel to watch the footage inside the courtroom and to take notes for cross-examination. The Court said the idea of a fair trial cannot be seen only from the side of the accused, and must sit alongside the victim's right to privacy and dignity and the wider interest of society. The accused is the sole person charged in a case pending before the Fast Track Special Court at Kottarakkara. The charges are under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The victim has been examined in chief as the first prosecution witness and her cross-examination is yet to be taken up. The petitioner had asked the trial court for copies of the footage, which was declined. The order is reported as 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 609.
Trial court:
Fast Track Special Court, Kottarakkara
Citation:
2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 609
Why it matters for exams: States the Kerala High Court's balance between the accused's right to a fair trial and a child victim's right to privacy under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, with charges also under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
BNS Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita — The penal code that replaced the Indian Penal Code.
31 October 2026
The Kerala High Court has stepped in to secure the burial of a 71-year-old man from the State whose remains had been kept in a laboratory abroad for about a year and a half because his relatives could not agree. Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan held that there is a duty to see that a dead person is given due respect and a proper burial, whether the person was poor or wealthy. The Court said it must approach such a dispute not as a contest between the parties but as its own responsibility to secure a lawful and dignified burial. Disagreement among relatives, it held, must not be allowed to become an endless obstacle to that burial. The man had died in the United Arab Emirates and the body had not been brought home while the family quarrel went on. The order treats dignity in death as part of the protection the Court must give, and not merely a private family matter. It is the kind of ruling courts have built on the right to life to cover the treatment of the dead.
Period the remains were held:
about one and a half years
Country where the death occurred:
United Arab Emirates
Why it matters for exams: States the Kerala High Court's holding that a dignified burial is a duty the Court must secure, and that disagreement among relatives cannot indefinitely block it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
1 November 2026
The premium of the NoRKA Care health insurance scheme for expatriate Keralites has been raised steeply, and the Leader of the Opposition has asked the State government to roll it back. For a family floater policy with a cover of Rs 5 lakh, the premium has gone up from Rs 13,411 to a band between Rs 35,664 and Rs 77,773. Pinarayi Vijayan said in a social media post that the increase is an unbearable burden on low wage workers in the Gulf and on senior citizens who have returned home. The government has explained the rise by saying insurers were unwilling to continue the earlier agreement because of the value of claims filed. A provision in the scheme had allowed people with existing medical conditions to enrol, and that provision is now being pointed to as the source of the problem. The Opposition Leader argued that the government should negotiate with the insurers instead of accepting their terms. He said the hike could put the whole scheme at risk and asked that the rates be revised downward. Expatriate organisations have made the same demand.
Cover of the family floater:
₹5 lakh
Old premium:
₹13,411
New premium band:
₹35,664 to ₹77,773
Why it matters for exams: Names the NoRKA Care health insurance scheme for expatriate Keralites, its Rs 5 lakh family floater cover, and the premium moving from Rs 13,411 to between Rs 35,664 and Rs 77,773.
Kerala PSCBank
In plain words
NoRKA Non-Resident Keralites Affairs — The State department and agency for Keralites living outside the State and the country.
Family floater A single cover shared by a family — One insured sum that any member of the family can draw upon.
Background
The Kerala State Temple Employees Coordination Committee has pressed for full institutional autonomy for the Malabar Devaswom Board, which puts the Board's own legal shape back in question. Temples in the Malabar region are still governed by the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1951, which is Madras Act No. 19 of 1951 and was written for the better administration of Hindu religious and charitable institutions and endowments. Section 7 of that Act, as substituted by the amending Act of 2008, directs the Government to constitute a Board by notification in the Gazette by the name of the Malabar Devaswom Board. The Act makes that Board a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, able to hold and dispose of property and to enter into contracts. It also defines the "Malabar area" as the area comprised in the Malabar District referred to in the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. A member of the Board resigns by writing to the Government Secretary in charge of the Devaswom Department. At present the Board has no powers and trustees handle temple affairs, and the Assembly has passed an amending Bill meant to give the Board institutional autonomy.
Governing Act:
Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1951
Act number:
Madras Act No. 19 of 1951
Section creating the Board:
Section 7, Constitution of the Malabar Devaswom Board
Why it matters for exams: The Act that governs Malabar's temples, the section that creates the Malabar Devaswom Board and the meaning of a body corporate are recurring Kerala polity questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Body corporate — A legal person that can hold property, sue and be sued in its own name.
Perpetual succession — The body continues to exist even when its members change.
Devaswom — A body that administers temples and their properties in Kerala.
Background
The Vice-Chancellor of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit has moved the Kerala High Court against a Single Bench order letting suspended students sit their semester examinations, which puts this many-campus university back in the news. The university's seat is at Kalady in Ernakulam District. It runs regional campuses across the State so that teaching and research reach learners outside the main campus. Those campuses are at Payyannur in Kannur, Panmana in Kollam, Tirur in Malappuram, Ettumanoor in Kottayam, Koyilandy in Kozhikode and Vanchiyoor in Thiruvananthapuram. The Tirur campus is at Thazhethara near Thirunnavaya, and the Koyilandy campus at Naduvathur. Together with the Kalady campus the university therefore has a presence in seven districts of the State, from Kannur in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes, along with diploma and certificate courses.
Seat of the university:
Kalady, Ernakulam District
Tirur campus location:
Thazhethara, Thirunnavaya, Malappuram
Koyilandy campus location:
Naduvathur
Why it matters for exams: Where a State university sits and which districts its campuses cover is standard Kerala PSC material, and the Sanskrit university is the one asked most in art and culture papers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Regional campus — A teaching centre a university runs away from its main campus.
Single Bench — A High Court sitting of one judge.
Background
The Ayilyam festival at the Mannarasala Sree Nagaraja Temple falls on Monday, and the traditional Pooyam Thozhal was held the day before, with the temple opening at 4 a.m. The temple stands at Haripad in Alappuzha district and is one of Keralam's two most important centres of serpent worship, the other being the Vetticode temple. Its estate spans over 16 acres, nearly half of it dense sacred groves, or kaavus, and ten distinct groves lie inside the temple compound. The deities consecrated here are Nagaraja, after whom the temple is named, along with Sarpa Yakshi, Naga Yakshi and Naga Chamundi. The temple is headed by a priestess known as Mannarasala Amma, and the special rituals of the festival are led by the family head. Hindu families across Keralam maintain serpent groves called sarppakavus, each grove having a protector family, and the Nagayakshikaavu here holds serpent idols brought over the centuries from families across the State. The hymns sung for the serpent deities are the Pulluvan pattu, rendered by the Pulluva community on a strung pot called the Pulluva kudam. Legend ties the place to Parasurama, who is said to have sought the presence of the serpents to clear the salt from the land he raised out of the sea.
District:
Alappuzha
Grove:
Over 16 acres
Temple deity:
Nagaraja
Why it matters for exams: Kerala's serpent shrines, the priestess tradition at Mannarasala and the Pulluvan pattu of the Pulluva community are asked in art and culture questions.
Kerala PSCSSC
In plain words
Sarppakavu — A serpent grove kept and protected by a Hindu family in Keralam.
Pulluvan pattu — Serpent songs rendered by the Pulluva community of Kerala.
Pulluva kudam — A pot-like instrument with strings attached, used for the serpent songs.
Background
Farm produce from Keralam keeps returning to the news through awards and disputes over who may use a place name, so the official register is worth holding. APEDA, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, publishes a GI Products catalogue State by State. Its Kerala page carries 16 numbered entries, among them Marayoor Jaggery, Navara Rice, Palakkadam Matta Rice, Edayur Chilli, Pokkali Rice, Tirur Betel Leaf, Vazhakkulam Pineapple, Central Travancore Jaggery, Wayanad Jeerakasala Rice, Kaipad Rice, Chengalikodan Nendran Banana, Kuttiattoor Mango, Attappady Thuvara and Kanthalloor Vattavada Garlic. Each entry names a registered proprietor, which is the body that holds the right to the name. Kerala Agricultural University is the registered proprietor of Pokkali Rice, whose entry also carries an address for the Pokkali Land Development Agency in Ernakulam, and the Director of Research of the same university holds Central Travancore Jaggery. Navara Rice is registered to Navara Eco Farm in Palakkad, and Tirur Betel Leaf to a growers' society in Malappuram. Kaipad Rice is registered to the Malabar Kaipad Farmers’ Society, and Vazhakkulam Pineapple to a company at Nadukkara. A geographical indication ties a product name to the area it comes from, so growers outside that area cannot use it.
Pokkali Rice proprietor:
Kerala Agricultural University
Kaipad Rice proprietor:
Malabar Kaipad Farmers’ Society
Catalogue keeper:
APEDA
Why it matters for exams: Which Kerala products carry a geographical indication, and which body holds each one, are repeat Kerala PSC and UPSC questions on agriculture and intellectual property.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
GI Geographical Indication — A tag that reserves a product name for growers of one area.
Pokkali — A salt-tolerant rice grown in the backwater fields of central Kerala.
Kaipad — A saline rice-growing tract of north Kerala.
Background
The Kerala Legislature publishes its own list of the State's Chief Ministers, with each holder's tenure, under the title Chief Ministers since 1957. The first name on it is E.M.S.Namboodiripad, who held office from April 1957 until July 1959. Pattom A.Thanu Pillai follows, and after him R.Sankar, who gave way in 1964. Namboodiripad returns to the list for a second term later in the decade, and C.Achutha Menon then appears twice in succession. A.K.Antony is on the list three times, in the late 1970s, the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, while K.Karunakaran and E.K.Nayanar also appear more than once. The later names are Oommen Chandy, V.S.Achuthanandan, Pinarayi Vijayan and V.D.Satheesan, whose tenure begins in 2026. The Legislature also offers a downloadable book on the Chief Ministers of Kerala alongside the list.
First Chief Minister on the list:
E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD
Second holder:
PATTOM A. THANU PILLAI
List maintained by:
Kerala Legislative Assembly
Why it matters for exams: Who was Kerala's first Chief Minister, who followed and who held the office more than once are among the most frequently asked Kerala PSC polity facts.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
Tenure — The period for which a person holds an office.
Background
The Governor has lately referred a matter to the President of India, which puts the Centre's role in a State's affairs back in the reading list, and the Kerala Legislature keeps its own record of the sharpest form of that role. The Legislature publishes a table titled President's Rule in Kerala at a Glance, with only a From and a To column. It lists seven spells in all. The first began before the State of Kerala itself came into being and ended in the first week of April 1957, when the first Council of Ministers took office. The second ran from the middle of 1959 to the start of 1960, and the third, the longest, from the autumn of 1964 to the spring of 1967. The fourth lasted two months in the latter half of 1970, and the fifth, from the end of 1979 into the start of 1980, was the shortest of all at about fifty days. Two more spells followed in 1981 and 1982, the last of them ending on 23-5-1982, and the State has had none since.
Spells listed:
7
First spell:
23-3-1956
Last spell ended:
23-5-1982
Why it matters for exams: How many times Kerala has been under President's Rule, and when the first and last spells fell, are standard Kerala PSC and UPSC polity questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
President's Rule — Direct rule of a State by the Union when its government cannot be carried on.
Background
Under its Business pages the Kerala Legislature keeps a list of Confidence and No Confidence Motions, arranged Assembly by Assembly, and it uses the short form KLA for Kerala Legislative Assembly. Such motions are recorded in nine Assemblies: the Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh and Fourteenth. A separate list covers the Resolution for Removal of Speaker, a motion aimed at the presiding officer of the House rather than at the government. That resolution is recorded in five Assemblies: the Third, Sixth, Eighth, Eleventh and Fourteenth. The same Business section also holds Adjournment Motions discussed since 1957, Motions under Rule 130, Discussion under Rule 58, Petitions presented to the House, Important Privilege Issues, Bills passed and Ordinances Promulgated. The record is maintained by the Information System Section of the Kerala Legislative Assembly at Thiruvananthapuram.
Short form used:
KLA - Kerala Legislative Assembly
Assemblies with confidence or no confidence motions:
Nine, from the Second KLA to the Fourteenth KLA
Assemblies with a resolution for removal of Speaker:
Five: the Third, Sixth, Eighth, Eleventh and Fourteenth KLA
Why it matters for exams: What KLA stands for, and the difference between a no-confidence motion against the government and a resolution for removal of the Speaker, are standard Kerala polity questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
KLA Kerala Legislative Assembly — The short form the Legislature itself uses for each of its Assemblies.
No confidence motion — A motion that the House has lost confidence in the government.
Adjournment motion — A motion to set aside normal business and take up an urgent matter.