After eight years of enablement through ITA 2000, the Government of
India started publishing the gazette notifications as e-gazettes.

It is and always will be one of the objectives of e-governance that it
enables transparency, efficiency in governance as well as cost
savings.

It is stated that the present system of gazette notifications was
costing Rs 5 crores per annum to the Government. The e-gazette system
should therefore cost lesser (ignoring the wastage of duplicate
expenses etc)

The Government of India is however charging for access to the gazette
notifications by public and charging a hefty amount for copies of each
notification.

It must be considered that every tax payer in the country is entitled
as a citizen's right to get a free copy of the gazette notifications
which contain the rules of Governance. It is anyway available under
the RTI provisions at a nominal cost.

Hence the Government of India should make the e-gazette a freely
accessible notification to every citizen of India. If necessary, they
can run a registration system with the PAN Card or Voter's ID or the
Passport as a proof and send passwords for access specifically on
request.

The cost of few crores of rupees in maintenance can easily be absorbed
as a Citizen centric essential service.

Any views?