A petition was filed in the Kerala High Court on Monday alleging that the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) violated the privacy of government employees by illegally accessing their personal information, including mobile phone numbers and email IDs, and using it for bulk messaging ahead of elections.
The petition was filed by Dr P Rasheed Ahmed, a member of the Calicut University Syndicate and Associate Professor at KTM College, Malappuram, along with Anilkumar KM, a Secretariat official.
In their plea, the petitioners stated that they were aggrieved by a bulk messaging campaign allegedly carried out by the CMO, primarily targeting state government employees and highlighting the achievements of the government.
According to them, the personal information of government employees, judicial officers and beneficiaries of government schemes was accessed without authorisation.
They submitted that employees in government and semi-government departments recently received messages from the CMO referring to measures such as DA hikes, salary revisions and home loans.
Individuals and entrepreneurs registered under various government schemes also reportedly received similar messages informing them of benefits.
The petitioners said they were unsure how their contact details were obtained but suspected unauthorised access to the SPARK (Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala) database, an e-governance platform that digitises HR and salary data of government employees.
They alleged that unsolicited bulk messages were sent to employees and beneficiaries to propagate an election campaign and that public funds were unauthorisedly used for disseminating messages through WhatsApp.
The plea further alleged that the actions violated the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution and contravened the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
The petitioners have sought directions restraining the respondents, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, from accessing citizens’ personal data and requested interim relief to stop further dissemination of such messages.