The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition alleging invasion of privacy of government employees after their personal data was accessed from the official salary portal for bulk WhatsApp messages highlighting the state government’s achievements.
A bench of Justice Bichu Kurian Thomas held that the letters sent by the Kerala State Information Technology Mission (KSITM) regarding salaries and Dearness Allowance (DA) of government employees could not be considered as invasion of privacy of the recipients.
The Supreme Court also ruled that there was no evidence of employee data being transferred directly to the Prime Minister’s Office (CMO) or that the chief minister was involved in violating employees’ privacy.
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“It is clear that the nature of the messages sent is related to salary and other fringe benefits, which in any way cannot be envisaged. It can be seen as a political campaign to challenge the message in an illegal color or as something that is done for an illegal purpose. The messages sent to state employees as well as people whose data is in the SPARK portal relate to the DA and HRA. Hence the message can be considered as an action to communicate the benefits achieved to government employees related to salary and other purposes, which can only be viewed as a measure of good governance By the welfare state.
The petition, filed by an employee of the state public administration department and an associate professor of the college, alleged that personal data of state government employees and welfare pension beneficiaries was illegally accessed from the SPARK portal on the directions of the marketing director of a mass messaging campaign ahead of the Assembly elections. The petitioners claimed that the action amounts to invasion of privacy under Section 21 and the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
