Covid data management: Kerala HC closes pleas filed against Sprinklr deal

Kochi: High court has disposed of a batch of petitions challenging the data management agreement between the state govt with Sprinklr Inc, a US-based data analytics company, during the Covid-19 pandemic, holding that no ulterior motive could be found on the state's part in collecting and sharing data with Sprinklr.At the same time, the bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Syam Kumar observed that the electronics and information technology department principal secretary ought not to have entered into the agreement without obtaining proper cabinet approval or the CM's consent. HC held that this amounted to gross dereliction of duty, for which appropriate steps should be taken by the state govt, and cautioned that such a situation should not recur.HC was hearing petitions filed by former minister and former leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala, BJP leader K Surendran, Jyothikumar Chamakkala of Kollam, Balu Gopalakrishnan of Thiruvananthapuram and others, challenging the impugned agreement.The principal secretary and Sprinklr had entered into an agreement on April 2, 2020 to analyse large volumes of data relating to Covid-affected persons in isolation and their primary and secondary contacts, establish a constant channel of communication with affected persons, and collate unstructured data. The agreement was made because govt-owned entities like C-DIT and Information Kerala Mission were not technically equipped to manage such volumes of data.The petitioners primarily challenged the agreement on grounds of data privacy, contending that while certain clauses restricted Sprinklr from sharing information, there was no clarity on the consequences in case of a breach, especially given the difficulty of pursuing remedies in a foreign jurisdiction. HC, however, noted that no such situation had arisen so far.HC noted that the reports of the reviewing committees constituted by the state to examine the legality and propriety of the agreement found that the relevant provisions of the Rules of Procedure for the Government of Kerala, the Kerala Secretariat Office Manual, and the Secretariat Instructions were not followed by the then principal secretary while entering into the agreement. The reports further recorded that neither the law department nor the finance department was consulted in order to ascertain the propriety of the agreement.However, noting that the agreement was short-lived and had been terminated, that Sprinklr had accepted the termination, and that the company had made a categorical statement that no issues would arise with respect to data sharing and that all data collected had been purged, HC held that no further orders were required. Accordingly, it disposed of the petitions.