No practice has been violated in seeking sanction for grant of a daily allowance by the Union government to the spouse of Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, Supreme Court Secretary-General (SG) said on Friday. The statement came in response to a reply furnished by the Law Ministry to RTI activist Subash Chandra Agrawal that the SG recently requested revised sanction allowing a daily allowance to the CJI’s spouse for...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Minority education cell minus hands by Charu Sudan Kasturi
India’s apex minority education watchdog has been reduced to an agency with a head but no body because of hectic lobbying over appointments after incumbent members either quit or completed their terms. The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, started five years back, is functioning at a third of its strength mandated under the law, crippling its ability to decide on key policy matters. Under pressure from sections within the...
More »The Rot Within by Brijesh D Jayal
Much like the tsunami waves that devastated many coastal areas five years ago, the closing weeks of 2009 saw an ill wind sweeping across many of our democratic institutions, highlighting that beneath the veneer of the nation’s aspirations towards great power status was a crumbling institutional core. To look at the fourth estate first. The preface to the Press Council of India’s “Norms of Journalistic Conduct” has a section that...
More »Delhi cops don't file FIRs in 90% of cases by Rahul Tripathi
Here's why it would be extremely embarrassing for Delhi to accept the Centre's ``advice'' that all complaints made to the police be filed as FIRs. If FIRs are indeed made mandatory, there would roughly be a 10-fold increase in the city's crime statistics. A study of PCR call records in Delhi reveals that on an average, nearly 20 complaints of snatchings are received every day while more than 10 calls...
More »Eventful year for Supreme Court J Venkatesan
Notwithstanding controversies, it passed several important judgments The year 2009 was eventful and memorable for the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan. The Court faced several controversies, the notable being the collegium’s decision to elevate Karnataka High Court Chief Justice P.D. Dinakaran as one of its judges. This controversy was preceded by a clean chit to Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Nirmal Yadav in the Rs....
More »