The Kerala High Court dismissed a petition challenging the alleged use of government employees’ personal contact details by the Chief Minister’s Office to send bulk WhatsApp messages highlighting the achievements of the State government. The Court declined to grant the reliefs sought by the petitioners and rejected the challenge raised against the State authorities in connection with the messaging campaign.
The case arose from a petition filed by Dr. Rasheed Ahammed P., an associate professor and syndicate member of the University of Calicut, along with Anil Kumar K. M., a clerical assistant in the General Administration Department of the State government. The petitioners approached the High Court alleging that their personal contact details had been accessed and used by the Chief Minister’s Office without their consent in order to send WhatsApp messages promoting the achievements of the State government ahead of the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections.
According to the petition, the messages were sent in bulk to government employees and other individuals using personal phone numbers and email addresses that had originally been provided to government databases for administrative purposes. The petitioners claimed that such information had been obtained from official records, including the Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala, an e-governance platform that stores service records and salary details of State government employees and is used for administrative functions such as salary processing and service management.
The petitioners alleged that the personal data contained in the database and other government systems had been consolidated and transmitted to the Chief Minister’s Office through government agencies. According to the petition, the data was subsequently used to send WhatsApp messages to the personal accounts of government employees and other individuals in order to publicise the achievements of the government prior to the Assembly elections.
The petitioners contended that the use of such personal information without consent violated the right to privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. They argued that the personal contact details were originally collected for limited administrative purposes and therefore could not be used for publicity or communication campaigns without proper authorisation or consent.
It was further alleged that the unauthorised use of personal data could potentially enable profiling, tracking and surveillance of individuals beyond the purposes for which the information had originally been collected. According to the petitioners, when a government authority itself engages in or allows such practices without adequate safeguards, it raises serious concerns regarding informational privacy and constitutional protections.
The petition also referred to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and claimed that the use of citizens’ personal data for sending promotional messages lacked transparency and a lawful basis. The petitioners asserted that the State authorities had not obtained consent from the individuals concerned before using their contact details to circulate such messages and therefore the action amounted to an unauthorised use of personal information collected through official databases.
On these grounds, the petitioners sought several directions from the High Court. They requested the Court to restrain State authorities, including the Chief Minister and the Chief Minister’s Office, from accessing or using the mobile numbers, email addresses and other personal identifiers of citizens for the purpose of sending promotional or publicity messages. They also sought compensation for the alleged misuse of personal data and requested that the Court prevent the authorities from sending further bulk messages through similar means.
The Court examined the allegations made in the petition as well as the reliefs sought against the State authorities. After considering the submissions made by the parties and the materials placed on record, the High Court decided not to grant the reliefs requested by the petitioners. The Court ultimately dismissed the plea challenging the actions of the Chief Minister’s Office in relation to the bulk WhatsApp messaging campaign.
With the dismissal of the petition, the High Court declined to issue directions restraining the State authorities from sending such messages or from using the contact details contained in government databases. The Court also declined to grant compensation or other reliefs sought by the petitioners in connection with the alleged misuse of personal data.
The petition had raised concerns that government databases had been accessed and used to circulate messages highlighting the achievements of the State government ahead of the Assembly elections. The petitioners had argued that such actions involved the use of personal information originally collected for administrative purposes and therefore constituted an intrusion into the privacy of government employees and other individuals.
By dismissing the plea, the Kerala High Court brought the proceedings to a close and declined to intervene in the matter. The decision effectively upheld the position of the State authorities against whom the allegations had been raised in the petition.
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