A day after the Kerala government’s ambitious ‘Keraleeyam’ festival concluded in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Secretary V Venu on Wednesday, November 8, informed the Kerala High Court that the state government was facing a severe financial crisis. He also said they were struggling to find financial resources for daily affairs. Appearing online before Justice Devan Ramachandran, the Chief Secretary made the “candid confession” while the court was hearing a contempt petition filed by Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) pensioners.
The pensioners argued that the state government had failed to implement the court’s directive to pay pensions on time.
As ironic as it may seem, the hearing began with the Chief Secretary apologising to the judge for failing to appear before the court on an earlier day as directed owing to “pre-existing engagements” referring to Keraleeyam, organised to present Kerala’s progress, achievements, and cultural heritage on the occasion of Kerala Piravi. ‘Keraleeyam’ drew the ire of Kerala’s opposition, which boycotted the festival, citing the extravaganza by the government at a time of financial duress.
Coming down heavily on the CPI(M) led government, the judge asked whether their obligation to the court was lesser or greater than that of the festival. “If you are celebrating and some people are in distress, your celebration is not very important. If one person is in distress in Kerala, that shall be your priority,” the court observed. The court also added that one should not be in a celebratory mood even if one citizen was in distress.
The Kerala High Court went on to order the government to pay the KSRTC retirees’ pension for October by November 13 and that if the pensions were not paid by then, the Chief Secretary and Biju Prabhakar, the Transport Secretary, should explain the reasons for this. The court has also asked them to inform what could be done to ensure that pensions were paid in the future.
On October 31, yet another affidavit submitted by the government mentioned that the state was facing a huge financial crisis. “Our state is now passing through a phase of financial constraints. Any monetary benefit has to be allowed within the resources available with the government,” said the Finance Department, while responding to a petition regarding the return of a fixed deposit to a private company by the Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation Ltd (KTDFC).
In its affidavit, the government said that KTDFC was a separate legal entity having its own financial arrangements and dealings. “Even though the government is supporting public sector undertakings, including KSRTC in different ways, it is obvious that the government is not legally bound to give financial support to meet its day-to-day affairs,” read the affidavit.
The submission by the Finance Department did not go down well with the court, which questioned whether the state was going through a financial emergency.
The government said KTDC and KSRTC could mortgage the property or sell one or two items to outside parties or government agencies to solve their financial issues. “But, unfortunately, no positive steps have been taken by KTDFC or KSRTC," said the government, adding that the two entities together had immovable properties worth around Rs 1,000 crore.
The government also said that despite its financial crisis, it had released a total of Rs 8,440 crores to KSRTC for various expenditures since 2018.
Meanwhile, addressing the media on Wednesday, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan blamed the Union government for “suffocating” the state financially. He said that the implementation of GST and restrictions on borrowing limits had worsened the state’s financial crisis. Pinarayi said that there was a shortage of Rs 57,400 crore this year from the Union government funds. He said they had been denied borrowing approvals worth Rs 19,000 crore, while the GST compensation had been done away with.
Reacting to allegations of extravagant spending through festivals like Keraleeyam, the CM said that the amount spent on portraying the state’s cultural heritage could not be termed as an ‘extravaganza’.
According to reports, several government employees, including retired staff, await their pensions and salaries. This includes huge amounts of money, including Rs 16,000 crore for PWD contractors, pension revision for 9,832 persons of the Kerala Water Authority and pensions for three months for over 40,000 employees of the KSRTC.