-The Telegraph The Supreme Court today asked the Bengal government to take steps to arrest the migration of widows to Vrindavan. “This is human problem… a very serious problem,” Justices D.K. Jain and Madan B. Lokur told state counsel Abhijit Sengupta. “Many of the destitute are coming from your state or Odisha,” the court said. Sengupta sought time to file his reply to the suggestion. The court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to...

-The Telegraph The Bengal government is expected to move the Supreme Court “in a day or two” against the Calcutta High Court verdict that set aside the Singur land law, a senior lawyer said today. The state government as well as the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) are set to file the petitions in the apex court, according to the lawyer. A Calcutta High Court division bench had on June 22 overturned...

-The Times of India A year after trying to provide a dignified life to sex workers, the Supreme Court on Thursday said its orders should not be construed as an encouragement to prostitution. The clarification came from a bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Gyan Sudha Mishra after additional solicitor general P P Malhotra drew the court's attention to its July 19 order in which it had sought suggestions from the SC-constituted...

-The Telegraph The Centre today told the Supreme Court that neither the courts nor the Election Commission can de-recognise political parties for calling bandhs that result in large-scale destruction of public property. The Centre quoted a 2002 judgment delivered after the Congress had moved Kerala High Court against the CPI for frequently calling bandhs — complete shutdowns, which are illegal — under the ruse of calling hartals, which are optional. According to...

-The Indian Express Government exercises discretionary powers in land allotment to benefit a favoured few The story of the 28 plots allotted in Uttar Pradesh in 2005 by the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav appears to be another textbook case of how state governments use their discretionary powers in land allotment to give great deals on prime property to politicians and government officials, and their cronies and families....