Transparency that 'Exposes'

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy never misses an opportunity to boast about the “transparency” in his administration. True, the administration has been transparent. So much so that the transparency is also literally “exposing” the government. Case in point is the system of issuing all Government Orders (GOs) online. Be it a GO related to sanction of monthly newspaper bills, grant of leave to officers, amount sanctioned for buying snacks in a particular minister\officer’s peshi or even sanction of advance to an attender for purchase of a bicycle, the online portal of the government has everything posted on it. In fact, no GO can be issued nowadays without first uploading it online. Here comes the catch. There is no harm in making available routine GOs on the World Wide Web as people will get to know more about what’s happening in the administration. The other day, a supposedly confidential GO too found its place on the AP government’s online portal causing much embarrassment to those concerned. The GO pertained to the expunction of certain adverse remarks made against Indian Police Service officer P S R Anjaneyulu, currently the deputy inspector general of police (political and development) in the Intelligence Department, in his annual confidential report (ACR). The ACR pertained to the period when he was a Superintendent of Police. Using his right to seek expunction of the adverse remarks in the ACR, the IPS officer made an appeal to the government and the process ended with the latter ruling in his favour. So far so good, but the awkward part is the inclusion of the “adverse remarks” – which the officer wanted expunged – in the GO that provided him relief. Hitherto, barring the officers concerned, nobody else would have known about the whole issue, more so the remarks made in the ACR. Thanks to the increased “transparency,” the world could virtually read into the ACR of an IPS officer. This has, naturally, left the officers red faced. “This is absolutely ludicrous. How can the contents of an ACR, even if they were expunged, be made public,” a senior IPS officer wondered. Some days ago, another routine GO too found its place on the government portal leaving an Indian Administration Officer concerned upset. The GO related to the sanction of a few lakh rupees from the officer’s provident fund to meet certain personal expenses (like education\marriage of a child). “Why should the world know such details? What purpose does it serve,” the officer in question fumed. Higher officials suggest that it would be good only if GOs that are absolutely relevant to the general public are posted on the government portal. “The administration becomes a laughing stock if people read manyof the GOs, going by what they contain. Simply put, more than 80 per cent of the GOs are nothing but trash,” a high-ranking bureaucrat observed.