Kochi, March 10 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition alleging that the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) had unlawfully used personal data of government employees and citizens to send bulk WhatsApp messages highlighting the achievements of the state government ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

A bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas held that the messages sent so far could not be considered a violation of the right to privacy, nor could they be construed as political campaigning.

The court observed that the communications primarily related to salary components such as Dearness Allowance (DA) and House Rent Allowance (HRA), and were therefore administrative in nature.

“The nature of the message relates to salary and other benefits and cannot be regarded as a political campaign,” the court said, adding that informing employees about such benefits could be viewed as a measure of governance by a welfare state and not as an illegal act.

The petition had been filed by Dr Rasheed Ahammed P, an associate professor, and Anil Kumar K.M., a clerical assistant in the General Administration Department.

The petitioners approached the court after receiving bulk WhatsApp messages from the CMO praising the government’s achievements ahead of the 2026 polls.

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

The petitioners argued that the data provided through the SPARK portal was intended strictly for official purposes such as salary processing and service records, and that sharing such information with other agencies for bulk messaging amounted to misuse.

They alleged that the data was routed to the CMO through agencies, including the Kerala State IT Mission, following which the messages were circulated.

Invoking Article 21 of the Constitution and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the petitioners contended that the use of personal information without consent violated their right to privacy.

They sought directions restraining the state and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan from using such data and also sought compensation.

During the proceedings, the state had assured the court that no further messages would be sent pending disposal of the case.

It had also sought permission to send ‘Thank You’ messages to contributors to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund, which the petitioners opposed.

With the ruling on Tuesday, the Court dismissed the petition, holding that no illegality had been established.

–IANS

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