Kochi, March 10 The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking to prevent emails and messages allegedly sent by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) to officials, highlighting the achievements of the state government.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas rejected the petition filed by Dr. Rasheed Ahammed, an associate professor at a college in Malappuram, and Anil Kumar K M, a clerical assistant at the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, arguing that sending such messages constitutes an election campaign.
The detailed order of the court is awaited.
The petitioners alleged that the messages were sent by accessing private data provided on the Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK) to inform officials about the credit of their monthly salaries and benefits.
They also claimed that data from the KSMART (Kerala Solutions for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation) system was also used to send the messages.
The government denied these allegations.
SPARK is an e-governance initiative under the Finance Department of Kerala and has been operational since 2007, aimed at digitizing HR-related services and salary data of government employees.