Endowments dept to introduce coding system to curb GO leaks
Officials to track leaks at every level to ensure accountability and prevent misuse of sensitive govt orders
Hyderabad: With government orders (GOs) being leaked even before their official release, the Endowments Department has decided to streamline the process by introducing coding at different levels and to take action against officials responsible for the leaks.
According to sources, it has come to the notice of higher officials that several Government Orders (GOs) were leaked even before their official release in the public domain.
Sources said that at least three GOs were leaked, and officials were shocked to learn that some private individuals had approached them seeking a reversal of the orders.
When the issue was brought to the notice of the Minister Konda Surekha, she asked the officials to ensure a mechanism to arrest the leakage and take stringent action against the personnel responsible for the leaks.
Sources said that recently a GO was to be issued for forming a Trust Board of a famous temple. Even before the order was released, a public representative confronted the minister on the missing name, which he had recommended.
The minister got to know about the GO being leaked at some stage in the Secretariat level. This issue had led to verbal spat between the minister and the public representative, who made comments against the minister.
The public representative reportedly gave 10 names to the minister and one of them was facing criminal charges and the name of that person was omitted because persons facing charges cannot be included as temple ‘Dharmakarta’.
The officials are now designing a mechanism to prevent such leaks. Sources said that a coding system will be introduced for GOs at various levels, with the code changing from one section to another within the Secretariat.
The officials can get the details about when and where the GO was leaked. “This is to ensure there are no malpractices in future.
Some policy decisions are not disclosed as they could become an undue advantage for some particular person or organisation. It will also make the staff accountable for their acts,” said a senior official. The official further said that stringent action will be taken against the staff involved in the malpractices like leaking GOs.
