Sprinklr contract gets HC nod but not without stringent conditions; Court asks govt not to share Aadhaar details with American company

ERNAKULAM: Though Kerala high court took strong exception to Sprinklr contract, it finally gave approval for the contract, after imposing certain stringent conditions, on Friday.

The court asked the government not to collect information from citizens without their consent or knowledge and instructed Sprinklr company not to use the government logo.

The high court division bench, in its interim order, asked the company not to use data for commercial purposes. The company was also asked not to give any advertisement in this regard.

“We are not for any intervention that would negatively affect Kerala government’s Covid prevention activities. We would have intervened if it were another circumstance.

We can only now take a balanced stand. We can’t agree with several stands taken by the government.

We are not happy with the deal. The details such as name, address and phone number given to Sprinklr should be stored confidentially and Aadhaar details should not be given to Sprinklr.

The government had said that only Sprinklr had the capacity handle so much data and only because of this we are not interfering,” the court observed.

The government agreed to keep all personal data secure. It said it would approach Centre once the Sprinklr contract term expires. The court instructed Sprinklr not to handover data to a third party.

After analysing the data Sprinklr should return the primary data and secondary data to the government. It should also inform the contract-related matters to other departments.

Meanwhile, the high court rejected the request of the State government to avoid consent letter of individuals while collecting their details.

The government’s argument that mandatory consent letter would make people reluctant to sign it fell on deaf ears.

The court also noted the Centre’s submission that it would give a service better than that given by Sprinklr.

The high court will consider the case again after three weeks.