Kerala High Court Issues Warning Over Privacy Breach by Chief Minister's Office

Court's Warning to Kerala Government

The Kerala High Court has issued a stern warning to the state government, demanding an immediate explanation regarding how the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) accessed the private contact details of nearly five lakh government employees, judicial officials, and beneficiaries of various schemes. This judicial intervention followed a petition alleging that the CMO bypassed privacy laws to send unsolicited, personalized WhatsApp messages highlighting the Chief Minister's achievements, including a 10% increase in Dearness Allowance, as part of the campaign for the upcoming May 2026 assembly elections.

Concerns Over Privacy Violations

The bench expressed clear concerns about a "lack of privacy" in this outreach, particularly regarding the suspected unauthorized transfer of data from the SPARK (Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala) portal. This database was originally created solely for salary and administrative purposes and was sent to the CMO through the Kerala State IT Mission.

Legal Implications of Data Usage

During today's hearing, the court emphasized that using administrative data for political promotion could severely violate the right to privacy under Article 21 and the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023. Consequently, the court instructed the government to clarify the legal authority behind this data processing and to halt the dissemination of such messages until the source of the data is legally verified. The CMO was also directed to cease the distribution of these messages as soon as possible.

Allegations from Kerala Congress

On Monday, the Kerala Congress accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of misusing the official SPARK database to send electoral propaganda to government employees and the public, labeling it a significant breach of trust and personal privacy.