Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala announced on 1 November 2026 that his office will go fully digital from 3 November 2026. Complaints and petitions to the Home Minister’s office must now be submitted online through a dedicated dashboard, where applicants can track the status of their petitions, PTI reported.
The same weekend, the Kollam district collectorate launched ‘Meet the Collector’, which lets residents raise complaints with the District Collector over a video call on the state’s Nammude Keralam digital governance platform. Together, the two moves show Kerala shifting public grievance handling to digital-first channels.
How the Kerala Home Minister’s online petition system works
Chennithala, who holds the Home, Vigilance, Fire and Rescue Services and Prisons portfolios, made the announcement in a post on X. “From November 3, the Home Minister’s office goes fully digital,” he wrote, adding that the public can submit complaints online and that a dashboard will help the office stay connected with the public and track the progress of every complaint “so each one gets a quick response”.
- Complaints and petitions are to be filed online from 3 November 2026.
- A dedicated dashboard guides people through the process.
- Applicants can track the status of each petition.
- The office has committed to a prompt response on every complaint.
The announcement did not include a web address for the dashboard.
Kerala Police already run a dedicated portal and a mobile app for citizens to file complaints online. However, officials told PTI that most people still prefer to submit petitions in person at police stations, so adoption will be the real test.
Kollam’s ‘Meet the Collector’ video call service
In Kollam, residents no longer need to travel to the collectorate to submit a complaint, The Hindu reported on 1 November 2026. They open the Nammude Keralam mobile app, go to the ‘Meet an Official’ feature and request a video interaction with the Collector.
A monitoring mechanism tracks every application submitted through the app so that action is taken without delay. Residents can check the real-time status of their request, including which official is handling it and what steps have been taken.
Why it matters for e-governance in Kerala
Nammude Keralam is the state’s single platform for government services. In a reply in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on 13 October 2026, IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty said the platform already had more than 1 lakh users and over 130 services, and that its expanded 2.0 version, led by the Kerala State IT Mission, adds more than 30 new services. The reply listed ‘Meet an Official’ for seeking meetings with officials and a grievance module for registering complaints and tracking progress.
The Home Minister’s dashboard and Kollam’s video interface apply the same idea at two levels, a minister’s office and a district administration, and both promise status tracking. The government’s wider technology push includes a dedicated ministry for AI, IT and start-ups, while the uneven rollout of K-SMART for local bodies shows that digital services still depend on complete modules and user uptake.
Key takeaways
- From 3 November 2026, complaints to Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala’s office are to be submitted online, with status tracking on a dashboard.
- Kollam residents can video-call the District Collector through the ‘Meet an Official’ feature of the Nammude Keralam app.
- Kerala Police already take complaints online, but most people still file in person.
FAQ
How can I submit a complaint to the Kerala Home Minister’s office?
From 3 November 2026, complaints are to be submitted online through the office’s dashboard, which also shows their status.
How does ‘Meet the Collector’ work in Kollam?
Open the Nammude Keralam app, choose ‘Meet an Official’ and request a video call with the Collector, then track the request’s status in the app.
Featured image: Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala (file, 2024). Photo: Shots by Karthik S.P / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).