Kerala HC dismisses pleas challenging govt sending bulk messages on ‘achievements’ to employees, others

Kerala High Court dismisses challenges against government’s bulk messaging to officials, ruling it not a political campaign.

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday (March 10, 2026) dismissed petitions challenging the sending of unsolicited, bulk messages to government employees and others highlighting the ‘achievements’ of the State government. 

The petitions were filed by an employee of the General Administration department and an Associate Professor of a college in Malappuram, who is also a Syndicate member of the University of Calicut. They alleged that the sending of such bulk messages was unauthorised use of personal data of government employees, judges and the beneficiaries of government schemes by the Chief Minister’s Office ahead of the State Assembly elections. 

While hearing their pleas, the court took note of the government’s undertaking that such messages will not be circulated until the matter was disposed of. The messages (related to dearness allowance, house rent allowance and so on) “cannot be regarded as a political campaign”. These could be regarded as a means of communicating on the same to the employees, it added.

The court had a week ago sought clarity on how the Kerala IT Mission would have got the information such mobile numbers, that is said to have been sourced from digital platforms such as SPARK.