Kerala HC dismisses plea against CMO over bulk WhatsApp messages to government employees

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea against tthe Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) for allegedly using personal data belonging to government employees and citizens to send bulk WhatsApp messages highlighting the LDF-led State government’s achievements ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.

Dismissing the petition filed by Dr. Rasheed Ahammed P, an associate professor and Anil Kumar KM, an employee in the general administration department, a single bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas held that the messages that have been sent thus far cannot be considered to be violative of the right to privacy or pushing any political agenda and, therefore, dismissed the petition.

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The court said for legitimate purposes, including for good governance in a social welfare State, the data collected can be utilised without falling within vile infringement of privacy. Since the Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) is a part of government of Kerala and the impugned messages were sent through the Whatsapp account registered in the name of KSITM by using the data in its possession, the nature of the messages was not for any illegitimate purpose.

“It is evident that the nature of the message relates to salary and other purposes, benefits, which cannot be regarded as a political campaign to impugn the message to the colour of illegality. The message that has been sent to the employee of the state, as well as the person whose data is kept in spark portal, relate to DA and HRA. The message can hence be regarded as a measure of communicating to the employees of the government the benefits rolled out related to salary, and other purposes, which can be viewed only as a measure of good governance, by a social welfare state, such as that cannot be granted illegal or for any illegitimate purpose,” the court said.

The petitioners approached the Court after receiving bulk WhatsApp messages from the CMO, praising the government and its achievements ahead of the 2026 Legislative Assembly Elections.

According to the plea, the messages were sent to government employees through the Service Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK), an e-governance platform that stores service records and salary information of state government employees, by accessing the contact details of government employees.

According to the petitioners , the personal information of the state government employees, judicial officers and beneficiaries of government schemes was illegally accessed by the CMO. The action, according to them, amounts to unauthorised access of personal data in contravention of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) and is a violation of their right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.