CMO messages to officials: Kerala HC raises privacy concerns, seeks govt stand

Kochi, Feb 24 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Tuesday observed that the emails and messages allegedly sent by the CMO to officials highlighting the achievements of the state government constituted an intrusion of privacy.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas made the oral observation while hearing a plea by Dr Rasheed Ahammed, an associate professor at a college in Malappuram, and Anil Kumar K M, a clerical assistant at the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, who claimed that sending such messages amounts to an election campaign.

The court, however, did not issue an interim order as the state government undertook not to send similar messages till February 27, the next date of hearing in the matter.

It issued notice to the state government and the Kerala State Information Technology Mission seeking their stand on the petition by February 27.

The state government told the court that the messages were not sent by the CMO.

The government lawyer said that the messages were disbursed by the data principal which in this case was the Kerala State Information Technology Mission.

The court also asked the government to explain how it accessed the phone number data of the government employees who were getting the messages.

The petitioners claimed to be aggrieved by a bulk messaging campaign from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), allegedly targeting state government employees and others receiving salaries and benefits under various schemes on the eve of the Assembly elections.

According to them, the messages were sent by accessing private data provided for intimating the credit of monthly salary and benefits.

"This is nothing but an election campaign, resulting in intrusion into the right to privacy of citizens by the state without their consent, by accessing the private data of government employees and others who have given their details for crediting their monthly salary in the Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK)," the petition had stated.

SPARK is an e-governance initiative under the Finance Department of Kerala, operational since 2007, aimed at digitalising HR-related services and salary data of government employees.

The petitioners have also sought a declaration that procurement of personal data of government officials by the CMO and its use for disseminating such messages is violative of the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

They further alleged that accessing their personal data was illegal as it was done without legal sanction and contrary to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act.

The petitioners sought directions restraining the respondents from accessing mobile phone numbers and email IDs to send messages highlighting government achievements. PTI HMP SA