KOCHI: 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.