Petition filed in Kerala HC against CMO messages to govt officials

A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking to restrain emails and messages allegedly sent by the CMO to officials highlighting the achievements of the state government, claiming it amounts to an election campaign. The petition was filed by Dr Rasheed Ahammed, an associate professor at a college in Malappuram, and Anil Kumar K M, a clerical assistant at the Government Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. The respondents in the petition are the Kerala government, the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Relations, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, the Kerala State IT Mission and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. They stated that they are prepared to pursue the matter as a Public Interest Litigation if required. They claimed to be aggrieved by a bulk messaging campaign from the Chief Minister's Office, 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 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 contended that the unsolicited nature of the messages raises serious concerns regarding how citizens' mobile numbers were accessed and used. ''It appears that the personal contact numbers/mobile numbers of the citizens were accessed and used by the CMO, ensuring that the government is always there to protect the welfare and rights of its employees,'' the petition said. They alleged that email IDs submitted by government officials were being used to disseminate what they described as a political party's perceived achievements. ''The collection of contact numbers/mobile numbers is in absolute violation of the right to privacy protected under Article 21 of the Constitution of India as held by the constitutional bench of the Apex Court,'' the petition stated. The petitioners 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. They also sought directions to the CMO to compensate, in monetary terms, those whose data was allegedly accessed unauthorisedly. The petition will be considered by the court soon.