Kerala high court slams chief minister’s office over using private data for messaging campaign

Kochi: Kerala high court on Tuesday came down heavily on the chief minister's office (CMO) over an alleged bulk messaging campaign said to have been carried out ahead of the upcoming state assembly elections by accessing private data, observing that the allegations are very serious.The court orally observed that, prima facie, there appeared to be an intrusion into privacy. It stated that unless the govt satisfies the court that there has been no intrusion, no data leakage and no violation of the rights of individuals, it must withhold any further circulation of such messages. The bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas made these observations while considering a petition filed by Malappuram KTM College associate professor P Rasheed Ahamed and another petitioner, challenging the bulk messaging campaign. The petitioners alleged that the CMO illegally accessed the mobile numbers of citizens, particularly govt employees, which had been collected for various official purposes.In view of the strong criticism from the bench, the special govt pleader, appearing on behalf of the state govt, undertook that no further dissemination of messages claiming the achievements of the LDF-led govt would be made to citizens through mobile numbers or email IDs. Recording the submission, the bench sought an explanation from the state govt on the source of the personal data of citizens used for the bulk messaging campaign by next Friday. The court accordingly adjourned the petition to Feb 27."How did the chief minister get this data? Who sent this data? What protection exists for individual data if it is accessible to everyone? If it is not the chief minister, then it is somebody else — somebody else has access to it," the court orally said during the hearing. The bench also urged the state govt to satisfy the court that the private data of citizens had been accessed through a proper channel to which the govt has lawful access. Meanwhile, the petitioners pointed out that the messages were sent from a business account maintained by the CMO. The court, therefore, asked the govt what was meant by this ‘business account' and who managed it. The court reiterated that it would be a serious matter if the govt had indeed carried out such actions. It also sought a report on how many messages had been sent from the CMO to individuals.The petitioners alleged that the govt had accessed the details of govt employees from the Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK) software, which is used for the disbursement of salaries. They further alleged that messages had also been sent to judges as their particulars are likewise recorded in the software for salary disbursement. Noting the allegation, the court observed that the matter concerns a possible data leak, which is alarming, especially with respect to the categories of persons referred to in the petition.