Kerala High Court Reserves Order in Petition Challenging CMO's Bulk Messaging Campaign
The Kerala High Court has reserved its order in a significant petition that challenges the bulk messaging campaign allegedly conducted by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). This campaign primarily targeted state government employees ahead of the assembly elections by accessing private data provided for the crediting of their monthly salaries.
Court Proceedings and Key Submissions
The bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, on Thursday, completed the hearing in the petition filed by P Rasheed Ahamed, an associate professor at KTM College in Malappuram, and K M Anil Kumar, an employee of the general administration department in Thiruvananthapuram. The court indicated that the judgment would likely be pronounced next Monday.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the High Court had directed a competent officer from the Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) to appear before it. The officer was required to clarify how the data of government employees from the Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK) software was accessed and used to send bulk messages on behalf of the CMO.
Accordingly, Sabareesh Karunakaran, one of the heads of e-governance at KSITM, appeared before the High Court on Thursday. He submitted that the IT Mission had indeed sent the messages on behalf of the CMO. A new platform was created specifically for sending WhatsApp messages, and the only centre ID that was validated and available at the time was ‘Chief Minister’. This centre ID had been created much earlier and had previously been used to send messages related to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
Security Measures and Legal Arguments
The officer further elaborated that there is a nodal officer exclusively for this platform, and only this officer can access it using multi-factor authentication. This includes username, password, and biometric authentication. He also informed the court that this was the first instance they had used WhatsApp to send such messages.
Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup, representing the government, submitted that the Chief Minister, as the head of the executive of the state, has the right to address or send messages to members of the services in Kerala. He argued that there is nothing illegal or illegitimate in sending messages to government employees using the database in SPARK. According to his submission, no violation of any law or regulation has been found in this matter.
Petitioners' Concerns and Court's Observations
Meanwhile, senior lawyer George Poonthottam, who appeared for the petitioners, raised serious concerns over the use of data collected for a specific purpose being used for another purpose without obtaining consent. He alleged that this practice is illegitimate and violates privacy norms.
The High Court, however, orally questioned how it could be concluded that the messages were illegitimate or sent for ulterior purposes. The court noted that the messages were related to Dearness Allowance (DA), salary, and house allowance of government employees. Additionally, it observed that the messages were not sent from the Chief Minister's personal account but from the mobile number of the State IT Mission, which is a government department.
This case highlights the ongoing debate over data privacy and the ethical use of government databases, especially in the context of political communication. The court's upcoming judgment is eagerly awaited as it could set important precedents for data protection and electoral practices in Kerala.
