-The Times of India   Despite stringent directives from the central and state government to make it easy for applicants to obtain information under Right to Information Act (RTI) Act, officials in many Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) office continue to take applications lightly. Dilly-dally tactics and indifferent treatment to applicants is described as natural in NMC. The two most common problems being created by officials are refusal to accept applications by directing...

Twelve government doctors involved in alleged illegal clinical trials in Indore have been slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 each when a probe committee had recommended stringent action like prosecution and cancellation of licences. The paltry fine has invoked strong reactions from health activists who called the action an eyewash and demanded that the government immediately suspend the doctors if it was serious about penalising them and setting an example. The 12...

Judicial activism was the key in many Supreme Court observations and judgments during 2011. 2011 CVC THOMAS: A three-judge bench led by CJI SH Kapadia declared “non est” — or nonexistent — the majority recommendation of a high-powered committee for P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner. The court ruled that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister’s recommendation amounted to “official arbitrariness”, coming in spite of the dissent of the third...

-BBC   Authorities in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have been criticised for letting off lightly 12 doctors who conducted drug trials on children and patients with learning disabilities. The doctors were fined 5,000 rupees ($94; £60) each for failing to inform the authorities about the tests. Activists and opposition parties said the fine was a "joke" and called for an investigation by the federal police. The trials of the drug to treat sexual...

The National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) on Tuesday questioned the “appropriateness” of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill, 2011, in respect of the proposed watchdog's independence, empowerment, jurisdiction and accountability. “The appropriateness of the Bill could well be determined by asking questions such as whether … [the proposed Lokpal] is adequately independent of the government, whether it is adequately empowered to detect, investigate and prosecute cases of corruption, had...