Rediff

New Delhi, Mar 25: Delhi was named the Best e-Governed State of 2007, according to the 3rd Dataquest-IDC e-Gov Survey 2008. Goa, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala followed Delhi according to the study that was conducted across 20 states in the country.

Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab featured in the top 10. Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, was ranked sixth overall.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand was named the worst e-governed state of 2007, preceded by Gujarat and Haryana.

The study also noted that Gujarat had the most drastic fall ending at number 19 in 2007 from number 4 last year. With citizens and businesses reporting low satisfaction levels, the overall e-governance scores of Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Haryana also fell as compared to last year.

The study shows that the citizens of Delhi are most satisfied with e-governance initiatives, with Delhi topping nine of the 14 parameters in the category. Himachal Pradesh bagged the second spot followed by Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Commenting on the survey, Dataquest's chief editor Prasanto K Roy said, "We're seeing the impact of political and law and order issues on citizen's satisfaction � whether it's Gujarat's massive fall or Karnataka's and West Bengal's more muted slides."

The corporate world however presented a more positive picture according to the study. Prasanto K Roy adds, "Businesses are happier with the government interface than the citizens. The prime reasons are consistency, replication, and national reach of projects that affect that government-business interface � from the MCA-21 project to tax and other corporate filings."