The Group of Ministers tasked to suggest ways to curb corruption in public life is weighing a constitutional amendment to fast-track the trials of officials indicted for graft. Sources said changes could be incorporated in Article 311 of the Constitution (dealing with dismissal, removal or demotion of government officials) to provide for summary proceedings in cases of grave misdemeanour or blatant corruption. Also under consideration are amendments to the Prevention of Corruption...

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found several inadequacies in the implementation of the Swarnajayanthi Gram Swarozgar Yojana (self-employment scheme) by the State government, including inadequate coverage of the SC/ST and disabled beneficiaries and ineffective monitoring mechanism. The report of the CAG (Panchayat Raj institutions) - 2009, tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, points out that non-utilisation of grants on time resulted in the loss of assistance to...

Even five years after the enactment of the pioneering Right to Information Act (RTI), penalties for delays in providing what has been sought under the law are imposed in less than 4% of the cases, an independent audit shows. The Act, which empowers citizens to demand information from the government, provides for the imposition of penalties by the Central or State Information Commission in case of delays without reasonable cause. The landmark...

The Manmohan Singh government is digging an even bigger hole for itself by claiming there was no loss of revenue from the sweetheart sale of 2G spectrum to favoured corporate houses. “Milord,” cunning lawyers have argued in countless Hindi movies, “how can there have been a murder when there is no dead body?” I was reminded of this line when I heard Kapil Sibal — who has been performing as an...

The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear that it would not take cognisance of media reports about the statement of Union Communications Minister Kapil Sibal disputing the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General and saying that no loss was caused to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum allocation. When counsel Prashant Bhushan took exception to the statement made by Mr. Sibal, Justice Singhvi observed, “The issue has now become debatable.”...