VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday said people have the right to know the Orders issued by the government. The High Court also said that the government cannot issue any GO keeping the people in the dark.
High Court bench of Chief Justice Prasanth Kumar Mishra and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy made these observations while dealing with a batch of Public Interest Litigations filed by GMNS Devi of Nellore, K Srinivasa Rao of Guntur and SR Anjaneyulu of Anantapur.
Arguing on behalf of the petitioners, counsels PVG Umesh Chandra and Y Balaji said the government was intentionally not posting the GOs in the public domain. They informed the court that the government is not making available the GOs to the public as the actions of the government are being questioned in the courts in the form of PILs.
The counsels maintained that not posting the GOs in public domain violates the Right to Information Act and the decision of the government not to put the GOs in the website is an unilateral one. They informed the bench that GOs used to be uploaded to the website automatically earlier.
Government Special Pleader C Suman said the government is not denying Right to Information to the people. Suman informed the bench that GOs which are not important in nature are not uploaded on the website. GOs related to small expenditure, expenses on stationary and others were not being uploaded on the website, Suman said.
Intervening, the Bench said that people have the right to know about the GOs. “Even small issues sometimes have a great impact. There is a possibility that irregularities in small payments like Dearness Allowance and Travel Allowance might come out by placing such things in the form of GOs. There are instances where some employees got dismissed from service because of placing such GOs in public domain,” the bench observed and said people have the right to know about the contractors, tenders and those who were put under black list.
Suman said the argument that GOs were not put in public domain so that PILs are not filed against the government is not correct and said PILs are still being filed against the GOs even after the GOs were not put in the public domain. The bench said they too browse the GOs in the website before delivering verdicts.
PIL on mining: HC issues notices
The High Court issued notices to the CBI and Centre and State governments, Pollution Control Board, Director General Vigilance and Enforcement, Director (mines department) and the Krishna district collector in a PIL seeking action against the mining in Gollanapalle and Kondapavuluru villages in Krishna district.
PIL against road works irks HC
The Andhra Pradesh High Court expressed dissatisfaction over a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed against expansion of a road at Mangalagiri in Guntur district, on Wednesday. The court asked the petitioner, TDP leader P Srinivasa Rao, why he is objecting to the government expanding the road by
removing a divider.