Kochi: The Kerala High Court has stepped in to freeze the Home Department’s controversial order aimed at completely restructuring the state’s police associations. A single bench led by Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas granted the interim stay while considering a petition filed by the Police Association against the government’s move. The controversy erupted after Additional Chief Secretary Minhaj Alam issued an order restructuring the police unions, which effectively abolished the 47-year-old Kerala Police Officers’ Association and merged three existing bodies into just two.
Following this, the State Police Chief dissolved the active governing committees and appointed ad-hoc bodies, prompting the association to seek legal remedy from the High Court. Challenging the move, the petitioners argued that the government’s unilateral overhaul directly violates their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. They pointed out that under Article 33 of the Constitution, only Parliament holds the authority to alter the structure and functioning of armed forces unions, leaving the state government with no power to make such decisions. The association also highlighted that the long-standing organizations were scrapped without any prior consultations or valid reasons being communicated to them.
Under the contested government order, officers from Civil Police Officer to Grade Sub-Inspector were to be placed under the Kerala Police Association, while SIs up to non-IPS SPs were assigned to the Kerala Senior Police Officers’ Association. The Home Department had further directed that the assets and bank accounts of the dissolved association be split between the two remaining groups in a 60:40 ratio, with fresh elections wrapped up by September 30. However, with the High Court delivering this decisive interim stay, all restructuring efforts and ad-hoc arrangements planned by both the state government and the DGP have come to a sudden halt.
