Kerala Police Act (KPA) amendment

In the month of October 2020, Kerala Cabinet cleared the ordinance to incorporate a new Section 118(A) in the Kerala Police Act. The new amendment started facing criticism after the ordinance got cleared.

Key Points of Kerala Police Act (KPA)

• It mandates punishment for any person who creates or sends any information that is offensive or is intended to offend another person, through any means of communication. According to the ordinance there will be an imprisonment of five years or a fine of Rs 10,000 or both for such offence.
• The ordinance allowed Kerala Police to impose criminal charges against the citizens on interpreting any defamatory communication through any medium.
• Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan approved the ordinance, adding the new section, after reducing the maximum imprisonment to three years.

Kerala Government not to go ahead on KPA

• After facing criticism that the amendment would curb democracy, the Chief Minister of Kerala announced that the state government will not go ahead with implementing the amendment and future course of action will be decided after discussions.
• In March 2015, the Supreme Court had struck down section 118(D) of the KPA for violating the right to freedom of speech and expression

Kerala Government turns to Supreme Court against Leasing Airport to Adani

The Kerala government has reached the Supreme Court of India against the order of the central government o lease Thiruvananthapuram Airport to Adani Enterprises.  The state government’s plea for the same was rejected by the High court. The state is opposing this leasing as there was no discussion with them on it. Adani Enterprises won the bidding for airports in February 2020. The company had won the rights for running six airports — Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangaluru, and Guwahati.