SPARK data leak violation case; Court to pronounce final verdict on Monday

KOCHI: The government argued in the High Court that the Chief Minister is not prohibited from sending messages as the state chief to the public and denied rumours of sending illegal messages. The petitioners argued that there was a violation of privacy in sending the message and opined that the Chief Minister was not the equal of "government".

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas clarified that the order on the petition will be issued on Monday after the arguments of both sides are completed. E-Governance head Shabarish was present yesterday to explain how the IT Mission obtained the phone numbers of government employees. The petition in the court was filed by teacher P. Rasheed Ahmed and secretariat officer K.M. Anilkumar, alleging misuse of SPARK data.

A decision will also be made on Monday regarding permission to send thank-you messages to those who donated to the Chooralmala-Mundakai rehabilitation project. The ban will continue until a decision is made.

The High Court asked the IT Mission Officer how the SPARK phone number was transferred to the Chief Minister's account. The explanation was that the centralised ID was in the name of the Chief Minister. The court asked how judicial officers, who are not government employees, received the message. The government replied that the number of officers was easily obtained since the payments of judicial officers are processed through Spark.