Officials' personal details to highlight govt achievements sought by OSD in CMO: Chennithala

Pathanamthitta(Kerala), Feb 25 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday claimed that personal details of government employees and pensioners, for sending messages about the state government's achievements, was sought by an official in the CMO.

Terming it as a "huge political controversy" and a "major breach of data privacy", Chennithala told reporters at a press conference here that the personal details of government employees and officials were sought by the officer on special duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) with an eye on the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

He claimed that the personal details, including that of owners of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), were sought from the KSMART (Kerala Solutions for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation) system and the Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK).

"The details were sought via a letter dated December 31, 2025 issued by the OSD with a direction that the information has to be handed over before February 12.

"This is a major breach of data privacy. Can the OSD issue such a letter without the knowledge or approval of the CM? There is a huge political conspiracy behind it," Chennithala contended.

He further said that using personal details for political campaigning by the CPI(M) and LDF was "illegal" and "undemocratic" and ought not to have been done.

The Congress leader further said that as per the OSD's letter, the details were collected as part of a digitlal communication system -- Centralised notification hub for government services -- that is being launched and for which the Information and Public Relations Department (IPRD) is working.

He said that no government has a right to take personal details of its employees in this manner and demanded that a case be registered against the CM, his OSD and the Chief Secretary of the state for allegedly defending such activities.

"It is shameless and undemocratic to use these personal details to send messages to people, including High Court judges, as part of the election campaign," Chennithala contended.

His remarks come a day after the Kerala High Court 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.

The court's oral observation came 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 state government undertook before the court not to send similar messages till February 27, the next date of hearing in the matter.

The petitioners have claimed to be aggrieved by a bulk messaging campaign from the 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. PTI HMP ROH