Key GOs missing on govt site, concerns over lack of access

Key GOs missing on govt site, concerns over lack of access 

GOs On Phone Bills & Leaves Uploaded Fast 

Koride.Mahesh@timesofindia.com 21.03.2025

Hyderabad : The Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) department on March 12 issued two important Government Orders (GOs). One concerning the creation of Future City Development Authority, and the other pertaining to expansion of HMDA jurisdiction. These decisions were made by the Telangana cabinet earlier. However, these two significant GOs could not be found on the state govt’s website, ‘goir.telangana.gov.in’. Similarly, hundreds of GOs issued by various govt departments, such as the guidelines for Indiramma Illu, are also missing from the govt portal. 

However, officials promptly upload GOs relating to the payment of telephone bills, sanctioning of leaves, promotions, and sometimes, GOs involving central schemes and budget allocations. AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi had raised this issue of GOs and Budget Releasing Orders (BROs) in the state assembly a few days ago. 

He questioned how many GOs issued by various govt departments over the past year had been uploaded to the govt website. He even remarked in the assembly, “Don’t run the assembly as Gandhi Bhavan,” after his question was not addressed and was changed. Previously, public interest litigations (PILs) were filed in the Telangana High Court regarding the failure to upload important GOs on the govt website. 

Officials claimed that the practice of not making important GOs publicly available was initiated by the previous BRS govt, and the current Congress govt is continuing it. Now, departments classify the GOs as confidential and internal, before sending them to the officers or departments concerned. Sometimes, the GOs only come to light after several days or weeks when they are eventually reported by media. 

“The central govt uploads all GOs and orders immediately. Even the HC previously commented that when HC orders are uploaded to the website within 24 hours, why is the govt not uploading its orders? This attitude of the govt leads to a lack of transparency in the administration and fosters corruption,” said M Padmanabha Reddy, Secretary of Forum For Good Governance, who filed a PIL on GOs in the HC several years ago. 

He added that the state govt has not even filed a counter in this case. When the BRS was in power, the Dalit Bandhu scheme guidelines and the sanctioning of units to Vasalamarri were not made publicly available, which led to a case being filed in the HC. Interestingly, BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan, who was formerly with Congress, had also filed a PIL concerning the absence of GOs on the govt website, alleging that portal had been shut down a few years ago.