[2] Nokku kooli often enjoys a quasi-legal status, legitimized in one case by the Head-load Workers Welfare Fund Board of an industrial zone in Kochi establishing a 'wages list' for jobs that can be completed with machine-driven processes.
[2] The modus operandi is usually as follows: At almost every industrial zone and residential area in the state, worker's unions posts "lookouts" whose task is to spot vehicles carrying goods.
[3][citation needed] A Malayalam Writer, Paul Zacharia, illustrates Nokku Kooli with the following example: Recognized by some as an unethical labour practice,[2] it is cited as one of the reasons for poor industrial development in Kerala.
The state government of Kerala's Labour Department has taken steps to end this illegal practice, including depriving implicated workers of their jobs.
A truck carrying heavy equipment for ISRO was blocked in Thiruvananthapuram in September 2021 just days after the Kerala High Court had reprimanded the state government for failing to effectively implement a law to abolish the practice.