Kerala HC stops govt funds for implementing Nava Kerala Citizen Response programme
Kochi (PTI): The Kerala High Court on Tuesday said the government funds could not have been spent for the Nava Kerala Citizen Response Programme and set aside the order authorising Rs 20 crores for the initiative.
A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M said the expenditure incurred for the implementation of such a programme is in violation of the rules of business.
The court's order came on two pleas, one of them by Kerala Students Union (KSU) state president Aloshious Xavier, seeking to quash the order launching the programme and restrain the government from "misusing public funds for personal and political gain of the ruling party or front".
The pleas had also claimed that the initiative was "a political campaign of the ruling party or political front, masquerading as a government programme" and that it had been launched with the singular objective of furthering their political interests ahead of the 2026 state assembly elections.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
