Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan on Monday ruled that the Assembly’s usage of ‘Kerala Niyamasabha’ on its official papers is linguistically sound and procedurally valid, as he rejected a point of order raised by CPI legislator and former Minister G. R. Anil.
Mr. Anil had claimed that persisting with the usage of ‘Kerala Niyamasabha’ was flawed in light of the Central notification of August 25, which altered the official name of the state from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’.
Although matters concerning the Legislative Assembly Secretariat are normally not entertained as points of order on the floor, the Chair took up the matter as an exceptional case to provide a clarification, the ruling observed.
The ruling explained that while ‘Keralam’ is used when standing alone or as the second word of a compound term such as in Haritha Keralam or Nava Keralam, the final ‘anusvara’ (which marks a distinct nasal sound) is dropped when it serves as a first word of a compound term or prefix to a noun that follows.
In such compound combinations, the terminal ‘anusvara’ is omitted and replaced by an ‘a’ vowel ending, as seen in usages like ‘Keralasarkar’, ‘Keralasamsthanam’, ‘Keralappiravi’ and ‘Kerala Niyamasabha’.
The Chair added that the usage of ‘Kerala Niyamasabha’ was adopted on Assembly papers after consulting linguistics experts in the State.
Published – October 13, 2026 02:40 am IST
