-The Times of India   UP Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra has recommended registration of a case and a CBI and Enforcement Directorate probe against former state minister Babu Singh Kushwaha under the Prevention of Corruption and Money Laundering Act.  The Lokayukta has found him prima facie guilty of large-scale anomalies in allotment of mines and other financial irregularities and forwarded a report to chief minister Mayawati for necessary action.  "There were three specific...

The Supreme Court-appointed committee investigating illegal iron ore mining in Karnataka is tying up loose ends in Bellary district and will be submitting its final report early next month. The court's forest bench is to hear the case again on February 3.  The Central Empowered Committee (CEC), whose investigations prompted the Supreme Court to suspend mining in iron ore-rich areas of the state, affecting nearly a fourth of the country's production,...

-The Times of India   Struggling to stay relevant amid signs of growing popular indifference, Team Anna chose Republic Day to advocate radical ideas like putting gram sabhas above the Lok Sabha and establishing a referendum commission along the lines of Election Commission.  In a video message, activist Anna Hazare also praised the Lokayukta bill of Uttarakhand, in what may be seen as a surrogate campaign for the BJP in the state. He...

-The Times of India   The Karnataka high court on Friday allowed investigation against external affairs minister SM Krishna and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy responding to a private complaint about illegal mining. Partly allowing their petitions seeking the quashing of the complaint, Justice N Ananda ordered the continuation of Lokayukta investigations in respect of Krishna dereserving forest land for mining and Kumaraswamy favouring a firm. The judge observed: "The dereservation was in contravention of...

-PTI   The Gujarat Government on Thursday approached the Supreme Court challenging a High Court order upholding the governor’s decision to appoint Justice R A Mehta as the Lokayukta of the state. While upholding the appointment of retired judge Mehta as the Lokayukta, Justice VM Sahai of the high court had said that Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s “pranks” had sparked a “constitutional mini crisis”. Justice Sahai, who was hearing the petition against Justice Mehta’s...