Hyderabad: Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday told the Telangana state government to inform the court how much time it required to restore the website containing government orders and provide access to the public.
The judge was dealing with a petition filed by Telangana Congress chief spokesperson Dasoju Sravan Kumar, challenging the decision of the state government to close the website.
Senior counsel R. Raghunandan, representing Mr Kumar, told the court that the government had shut down the website in February without citing any reason.
Media reports said the website was taken down after PILs were moved before the High Court challenging the GOs that were hosted on the website with regard to various decisions taken by the government.
The website was launched in 2004 in undivided AP. The separate website for the TS government was launched after bifurcation. The AP government website is still functional.
Mr Raghunandan contended that the decision to close the website was in violation of Section 4 of the Right to Information Act and a blow to transparency.
He said that in a democracy, the government has the responsibility of placing its decisions in the form of GOs in the public domain in order to ensure transparency in administration. After hearing senior counsel, the judge sought the response of the state government.
Telangana state government counsel Najeeb Khan, said the government had decided to streamline the website and issued guidelines to department secretaries. He said the website would not be available for some time due to this reason.
He said that after rectifying the lapses, the website would be placed in the public domain. He urged the court to grant some time to complete the rectification process.
While adjourning the case to Monday, the judge asked government counsel to furnish details about the time required for the government to restore the website.
