Personal information of government employees leaked; Petition filed in High Court against Chief Minister's Office

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A petition has been filed in the High Court against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's office alleging misuse of personal information of government employees. Secretariat official Anil Kumar and others have approached the High Court. The petition has mentioned that the WhatsApp numbers of the officials were collected for political purposes. The petition will be considered tomorrow.

The petition has been filed by including the Chief Minister as the opposing party. About five lakh employees had received a message from the Chief Minister's office in the past few days explaining the welfare activities in the state. The controversy was that the Chief Minister's message was sent to the employees' WhatsApp numbers after the order granting 10 percent DA was issued. Opposition service organisations in Kerala allege that sending group messages to employees' private phone numbers confirms a data leak from the SPARK (Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala) system, violating employee privacy.

The Chief Minister's message addressed the employees by name. The message was that the promises announced in the last budget are being implemented one by one, and that this government is always there to protect the welfare and rights of the employees, and this care will continue in the coming days.