Three years after he was arrested by CBI from a Mumbai hotel along with an arms dealer, Indian Revenue Service officer Ashutosh Verma was reinstated by the Income Tax Department. Last month, he was promoted as Joint Commissioner, Income Tax. In March 2008, Verma was arrested together with arms dealer Suresh Nanda, his son Sanjeev and Nanda’s chartered accountant Bipin Shah. The arrests were made after a surveillance unit of the CBI...
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Holding government to account by Wajahat Habibullah
As the Right to Information Act (RTI) celebrated the sixth year of its coming, there has been much heated discussion, often emotional, of the benefits that it has brought and also the challenges with which it has confronted government. This debate came to a head with the prime minister’s inaugural address to the Annual Convention of the central information commission on October 14. It is accepted in all circles that the...
More »Larger bench of CIC likely to decide BCCI's status by Himanshi Dhawan
The nettled issue of whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is a public authority or not hangs in balance, with the central information commission mulling the option of referring the case to a larger bench. At the first hearing of the transparency panel in the presence of TV cameras, Information Commissioner M L Sharma indicated that the matter may be decided by a larger bench. The...
More »Lokpal Movement: Unanswered Questions by Gautam Navlakha
Why is it that the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption does not seek to have the Lokpal cover NGOs, corporate houses and the corporate media? Gautam Navlakha (gnavlakha@gmail.com) is a member of the People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Delhi. It would be churlish to dismiss “Team Anna’s” mass mobilisation which is an assertion of our collective right to protest. This is especially so in view of the fact that after having waited...
More »Tribals hungry as Congress-ruled Centre, Rajasthan squabble by Srinand Jha
Rs. 72 crore fund meant to stop chronic malnutrition and hunger deaths among the state’s 90,000 Sahariya tribals unspent or used for welfare of officials Baran, Rajasthan: The consequences of careless, uncaring governance in Jaipur and Delhi-both ruled by the Congress-are proving deadly to India’s poorest tribals and providing a warning to the dangers inherent in India’s upcoming multi-billion dollar social-security scheme. At a time when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)...
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