The Kerala High Court has dismissed petitions contesting the state government's practice of sending bulk messages detailing its "achievements" to employees and others. The court's ruling hinges on its interpretation that these communications, which focused on administrative matters like salary revisions and allowances, do not constitute a political campaign and therefore do not violate privacy rights. The government offered assurances that no further messages would be sent pending the case's conclusion, a point noted by the court.
The court considered the state's assurances that such communications would be suspended until the matter was resolved. These messages, detailing aspects such as dearness allowance and house rent allowance, were deemed by the bench not to be a 'political campaign'. The court relied on existing legal interpretations regarding the use of collected data for legitimate state purposes, emphasizing that such data should not be misused for extraneous reasons.
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Previously, the court had sought clarification on the origin of the mobile numbers used, with allegations that data sourced from platforms like SPARK, a digital payroll system for government employees, was used. Petitioners had argued that their personal data, initially provided for salary notifications, was utilized without consent for election campaign purposes, constituting an intrusion into their privacy. They claimed the bulk messaging from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) involved illegally accessing personal data.
The ruling, delivered by Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, concluded that allegations of privacy violations and unauthorized data access were unsubstantiated. The court observed that the content of the messages primarily pertained to official administrative matters and policy decisions directly affecting government staff. The government's stance was that these messages were intended to inform employees about policies and benefits, thus not constituting an illegal data use.
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In its proceedings, the court had previously summoned an official from the Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) to explain how data from the SPARK software was accessed and used for these bulk messages. Questions were raised about whether data held within SPARK could be transferred to the IT Mission or other departments for such communication purposes.
The government had also sought permission to send 'Thank You' messages to contributors to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund, a move opposed by the petitioners. However, the final decision ultimately upheld the CMO's administrative communications to employees. The court found that no illegality had been established in the CMO's actions.