New Delhi: The Kerala government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an immediate suspension of the Statewide Inspection and Revision (SIR) process, arguing that continuing it alongside the upcoming local body elections could trigger an administrative crisis. The plea was submitted by Chief Secretary Dr. A. Jayathilak on behalf of the state.
In its petition, the state emphasized that conducting local body elections is a constitutional mandate and that newly elected councils must take charge by December 21. To ensure a smooth electoral process, Kerala requested the Supreme Court to temporarily freeze all SIR-related activities until that date.
The government warned that running both SIR and the elections simultaneously would overstretch administrative machinery. The local body polls require the deployment of 1.66 lakh government staff and more than 68,000 security personnel, while the SIR operations alone demand the involvement of 26,000 employees. Such dual responsibilities, the state argued, could “paralyze governance.”
The petition further revealed that the Chief Secretary had earlier written to the Central Election Commission expressing concerns about the clash between SIR procedures and the election schedule, but no response has been received yet. The move to challenge the SIR rollout legally was decided during an all-party meeting convened by the state government.
