Hyderabad: TheTelangana High Court on Tuesday issued a stern directive to the State government, ordering immediate uploading of all GOs, circulars, and rules on its official website.
Justice Surepalli Nanda, sitting on the single bench, instructed the government to strictly adhere to its own GO 4 dated April 10, 2017, which had formulated comprehensive guidelines for posting official documents online for the benefit of citizens.
The order came while Justice Nanda heard a writ filed by Errolla Srinivas, former chairman of the SC/ST Commission. The petitioner had sought directions to the Chief Secretary and Commissioner Information to publish all GOs, notifications, rules and circulars on official web portals, ensuring proper updating and uploading of all GOs in public domain.
Petitioner’s counsel, R. Chandrashekar Reddy, presented startling information obtained under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The data revealed that between 7 December 2023 and 26 January 2025, various departments issued 19,064 GOs. However, only 3,290 orders were available in public domain. This meant that a staggering 15,774 GOs remained missing or unavailable to the public. Reddy argued that the concerned departments issuing the orders were intentionally and deliberately failing to upload them on the website. He emphasised that such actions by the government were depriving citizens of their right to access information about State affairs. This lack of transparency, he argued, undermines accountability and creates conditions conducive to corruption. Access to GOs and documents is essential for promoting transparency in governance, ensuring greater accountability, and reducing opportunities for corrupt practices. The court was informed about a previous division bench order dated 20 March 2022, which had been passed while adjudicating a plea filed by Perla Shankar Rao, a social activist. In that case, the HC had directed the government to upload and regularly update all GOs, circulars, rules, and notifications on the website.
The division bench had further ordered the appointment of a senior officer who would be specifically responsible for the timely updating of all GOs. However, this directive had not been properly implemented.
The counsel also drew the court’s attention to GO dated 10 April 2017, which provided detailed guidelines for uploading all GOs on the website. The guidelines were formulated based on directions issued by the GoI, establishing a clear framework for maintaining transparency in government functioning.
After carefully considering the submissions made by the counsel, Justice Nanda directed the government to immediately implement the earlier division bench orders. The court also ordered the government to strictly adhere to its own GO that had formulated guidelines regarding the uploading of official documents.
The judgment reinforces the principle that government transparency is not optional but a fundamental requirement for democratic governance, and that citizens have an inalienable right to access information about the functioning of their government.
