Hyderabad, Dec 23 The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to upload all Government Orders (GOs), circulars, rules and notifications on its official website.
Single-judge bench took serious note that most of the GOs have not been uploaded on the official website.
Justice Surepalli Nanda observed that citizens have an unquestionable right to access government decisions and policies that affect public life.
The judge directed officials to strictly adhere to the guidelines prescribed in GO 4 of April 10, 2017, which mandates comprehensive online publication of all official documents for public access.
The judge observed that transparency in governance is not a choice but a fundamental requirement of democracy.
The court was hearing a writ petition filed by Errolla Srinivas, former chairman of Telangana SC/ST Commission.
The petitioner argued that the government intentionally and deliberately failed to upload the GOs, thus depriving citizens of their right to know and creating an environment ripe for corruption.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted to the court the data obtained under the Right to Information Act.
In reply to an RTI query by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T. Harish Rao, the Information Technology Electronics and Communications Department informed that out of 19,064 GOs issued between December 7, 2023 and January 26, 2025, only 3,290 GOs are available in the public domain.
As many as 15,774 GOs are not available in the public domain, reveals the RTI reply.
Meanwhile, reacting to the High Court order, Harish Rao said that it is a slap in the face of the so-called people's government.
In a post on ‘X’, the former minister told Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, that it's not enough to call yourself a “people's government”. “You should reveal what you are secretly doing behind the veil of these dark government orders,” he said.
Harish Rao stated that the drama being enacted by the Congress government, which came to power claiming to provide people's rule, by concealing these GOs, has been exposed through the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the High Court by senior BRS leader, Errolla Srinivas, based on an RTI response.
--IANS
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