4 November 2026
The two-day Conference of Chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees of Parliament and the State and Union Territory legislatures ended at the Kerala Legislative Assembly with a set of recommendations. Chairpersons from 25 States took part. K. C. Venugopal, who chairs Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, moderated the sessions and read out the recommendations at the valedictory function in the Sankaranarayanan Thampi Members Lounge. The conference asked for a robust mechanism for timely audits, firm and enforceable timelines for replies from ministries and departments, and a debate on PAC reports in Parliament and the assemblies. It also sought a meeting of Central and State PACs at least once a year on centrally sponsored schemes, specialised staff trained in public finance, and a common digital dashboard to track every audit and action taken report. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who inaugurated the conference, said public expenditure should be judged by the difference it makes to citizens' lives.
States represented:
25 States
Venue:
Kerala Legislative Assembly, Thiruvananthapuram
Why it matters for exams: The Public Accounts Committee, its examination of the Comptroller and Auditor General's reports and the convention of an Opposition chairperson are core Polity facts.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
PAC Public Accounts Committee — The committee that examines government accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General's audit reports.
4 November 2026
Thiruvananthapuram International Airport moved 444 metric tonnes of domestic cargo in October, its highest for any month. The previous best was 406 metric tonnes in June 2026, so the new figure is 38 metric tonnes and 9.4 per cent higher. Mobile phones flown in from Delhi accounted for much of the rise, along with optical lenses from Mumbai and growth in courier and consolidated cargo. Some agencies that earlier routed outbound consolidated cargo through Kochi have begun operating directly from Thiruvananthapuram, and post office mail volumes also grew in both directions. Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad are the top five cities for domestic cargo through the airport. Airport officials expect the start of export and import work at Vizhinjam International Seaport to open further logistics opportunities and to strengthen multi-modal cargo movement in the region.
October domestic cargo:
444 metric tonnes
Previous best:
406 metric tonnes
Growth:
9.4 per cent
Why it matters for exams: Vizhinjam International Seaport and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, India's first airport in a princely state, are standard Kerala infrastructure questions.
Kerala PSCBank
4 November 2026
Kerala has explained why the Kerala State Electricity Board bought power from GNA Energy OTC rather than from an offer routed through PTC India Ltd by the Himachal Pradesh government. The Chief Minister said at a post-Cabinet briefing that the Himachal offer was priced at ₹14.50 per unit while GNA quoted ₹8.63 and ₹8.90 per unit, and that taking the costlier supply would have added over ₹2,232 crore to the State's liability. The Himachal offer was for 843 million units up to March 2027 against GNA's 1,812 million units, with peak-time supply of 353 million units against GNA's 453 million units. Measured against the price ceiling fixed by the Electricity Regulatory Commission, the GNA purchase carried an extra ₹2.6 a unit and the Himachal purchase ₹8.5 a unit. All the offers were for round-the-clock supply. The government also said the transfer of M.G. Rajamanickam as KSEB chairman and managing director was part of a routine reshuffle.
Liability avoided:
₹2,232 crore
Himachal price:
₹14.50 per unit
GNA prices:
₹8.63 and ₹8.90 per unit
Why it matters for exams: PTC India Ltd, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission and KSEB are frequent questions on India's power sector.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
GNA General Network Access — The open-access arrangement by which a State draws power from the inter-State grid.
4 November 2026
A Maintenance Tribunal for senior citizens in Wayanad has ordered the return of a house and 1.28 acres of land to Thenothummal Gopalan Nambiar, who is 86. The childless couple had moved from their home at Thenothummal to Nileshwaram to live with a niece of his wife and her husband after the wife suffered a stroke. On the understanding that the couple would be looked after in old age, the title deeds of the property at Paliyana were transferred to the relatives, but the promised care did not follow and Nambiar left to stay at his sister's house. Members of a local pensioners' association petitioned the Tribunal on his behalf. After hearings before the Mananthavady Revenue Divisional Magistrate, Tribunal Chairman Athul Sagar ruled in his favour and directed the Vellamunda Sub-Registrar to void all four title deeds used to take over the land and house. Such tribunals work under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, whose Section 23 deals with transfers made on a promise of care.
Property restored:
A house and 1.28 acres
Title deeds voided:
Four
Why it matters for exams: The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, its Maintenance Tribunals and Section 23 on property transferred on a promise of care are standard law and welfare questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Maintenance Tribunal The tribunal under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 — A tribunal, usually headed by a revenue officer, that hears maintenance claims of parents and senior citizens.
4 November 2026
The Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Basant Balaji ruled that a direct recruit to the District Judge cadre who holds an LLM must receive those three increments in advance, reckoned from 1 July 1996. The appeal was filed by retired Justice A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai, who began as a direct-recruit District Judge. The benefit flows from the First National Judicial Pay Commission, better known as the Shetty Commission, whose recommendations the Supreme Court approved with modifications. Kerala had accepted the recommendation but a 2013 government order gave the increments only to officers appointed after that order. The Bench quashed that order to the extent it worked only prospectively, and set aside later communications refusing to extend it backwards. It said the exclusion of earlier officers amounted to hostile discrimination and that the State had wrongly treated a legal entitlement as an act of leniency. The judgment is reported as 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 612.
Increments allowed:
Three advance increments
Effective from:
1 July 1996
Citation:
2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 612
Why it matters for exams: The First National Judicial Pay Commission (Shetty Commission) and the Supreme Court's All India Judges' Association rulings are standard Polity and judiciary questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Shetty Commission First National Judicial Pay Commission — The pay commission for the subordinate judiciary set up on the Supreme Court's direction in 1996.
Division Bench A bench of two judges of a High Court — A High Court bench of two judges that hears appeals from a Single Judge.
4 November 2026
Kerala's High Court has put back in office the superseded body that runs the Thiruvananthapuram Regional Co-operative Milk Producers Union, the Milma unit serving Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. A Division Bench of Justice A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice A.K. Preetha quashed the order of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies that had superseded the committee over the supply of ghee to the Sabarimala Sannidhanam. The Bench also set aside a Single Bench order that had upheld the Registrar. It found that the Registrar had acted on a report of the Joint Director (General) of the Directorate of Dairy Development, that the committee members had cooperated with the inquiry, and that there was no risk of evidence being tampered with. The supersession under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 had also been ordered without consulting the State Co-operative Union. The Court said action by a statutory authority without the required reasons casts doubt on its good faith, and directed the restored committee to replace the Administrator.
Districts in the union:
Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha
Law invoked:
Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969
Why it matters for exams: The Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 and the powers of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies are recurring Kerala PSC questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Milma Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation — The apex dairy co-operative federation of Kerala, which markets milk under the Milma brand.
4 November 2026
The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's SMILE-B project has been rolled out in Kollam district with the aim of rehabilitating people engaged in begging. The scheme provides shelter and protection and adds self-employment and vocational training so that destitute persons can return to the mainstream. In Kollam city the work has been entrusted to the Kalluvathukkal-based Samudra Charitable Trust, with the Sub-Collector as nodal officer, and is run in coordination with local self-government bodies, the police and voluntary organisations. Members of the public and civil society groups can alert the authorities when they see anyone begging, after which an official team visits the spot and begins rescue and rehabilitation. N, k. Premachandran, MP, inaugurated the 'SMILE-B: Beggar-Free Kollam District' campaign at Kalluvathukkal Samudra Teeram, and District Social Justice Officer A. K, harikumaran Nair presided. SMILE is an umbrella central sector scheme whose begging sub-scheme was launched in February 2022.
Implementing agency in Kollam city:
Samudra Charitable Trust
Nodal officer:
Sub-Collector
Why it matters for exams: SMILE stands for Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise and is a central sector scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
SMILE Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise — An umbrella central sector scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
3 November 2026
The judicial commission appointed to inquire into the fireworks explosion at Mundathikode in Thrissur has submitted its report to the Kerala government. The commission is headed by retired Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair, and the report was handed over at the chamber of Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala. Sixteen people died and forty were hurt on 21 April 2026 when a unit making fireworks for the Thiruvambady side of Thrissur Pooram blew up. The commission found that permission had been given to store only 15 kg of explosive material, while those holding the fireworks contract had stocked around 7,000 kg at the site. It identified the extensive use of potassium chlorate, a banned explosive substance, in making the fireworks as the cause of the blast. According to the commission, friction between chemicals in high temperatures started the fire that led to the explosion.
Permitted quantity:
15 kg
Quantity stocked:
around 7,000 kg
Toll:
16 killed, 40 injured
Why it matters for exams: Commissions of inquiry headed by a retired judge, and the licensing of explosives, are standard Polity and governance questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Potassium chlorate A banned explosive chemical — A chemical barred from use in fireworks because it ignites easily by friction.
Background
The conference of Public Accounts Committee chairpersons that ended at the Kerala Assembly turned on one office, because the audit reports a PAC studies come from the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. Article 148 of the Constitution says there shall be a Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, appointed by the President by warrant under the President's hand and seal. The CAG can be removed only in the same manner and on the same grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court. Before taking office the CAG makes an oath or affirmation before the President in the form set out in the Third Schedule. Salary and conditions of service are fixed by Parliament by law, and once appointed they cannot be varied to the CAG's disadvantage. After leaving office the CAG is not eligible for any further office under the Union or a State government. The administrative expenses of the CAG's office, including salaries, allowances and pensions, are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India.
Article:
Article 148
Oath before:
The President
Expenses charged on:
The Consolidated Fund of India
Why it matters for exams: Article 148, removal on the grounds applying to a Supreme Court Judge, the Third Schedule oath and the charge on the Consolidated Fund of India are the most asked facts about the Comptroller and Auditor-General.
Kerala PSCUPSCSSC
In plain words
CAG Comptroller and Auditor-General of India — The constitutional auditor of the accounts of the Union and the States.