HYDERABAD: Justice Surepalli Nanda of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to immediately upload all Government Orders (GOs), circulars, rules and notifications on official websites and to strictly follow existing guidelines.
The direction was issued while hearing a writ petition filed by former Telangana SC/ST Commission chairman Errolla Srinivas, seeking directions to the chief secretary and the information commissioner to ensure publication of all such documents in the public domain.
Counsel for the petitioner, R Chandrashekar Reddy, told the court that information obtained under the Right to Information Act, 2005 showed major lapses. Between December 7, 2023 and January 26, 2025, a total of 19,064 GOs were issued by various departments, but only 3,290 were available online, leaving 15,774 unpublished.
He argued that the failure to upload GOs deprived citizens of access to information and affected transparency and accountability. Reference was also made to a March 20, 2022 order of the high court in a PIL filed by Perla Shankar Rao, which had directed regular uploading of all GOs and appointment of a senior officer to oversee compliance.
The court was also informed about GO Ms No. 4 dated April 10, 2017, which laid down guidelines for uploading GOs based on directions of the Government of India.