-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday came out all guns blazing against the National Green Tribunal, called the most important environment forum in history by the Supreme Court, and accused the tribunal of exceeding its brief and becoming a source of "embarrassment" for it in Parliament. "The NGT is not functioning as per the provisions of the NGT Act. This has been resulting in embarrassment to the government...

-The Hindu The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General underscoring the blatant violation of conservation laws and Supreme Court orders in the diversion of forests for destructive non-forestry use confirms what former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said about the system: it's a bit of a joke. The compensatory afforestation mechanism instituted to balance the devastating loss of natural forests has failed abysmally. The CAG's report is proof that India's...

-Outlook The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and nine naxal-affected states on a PIL seeking direction to governments to formulate a central policy for handling the menace. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivan sought response from the Centre, states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Utter Pradesh governments. The court passed the order on a plea filed by ex-MLA of...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The rules of the game have changed for the political class, with the Supreme Court asking the government on Friday to enforce its order for immediate disqualification of sitting MPs, MLAs and MLCs convicted for an offence attracting a sentence of two years. "Sitting Members of Parliament and state legislators are no longer protected by clause 4 of Section 8 of the Representation of People Act,"...

-The Hindu     CAG report uncovers forestland scam, says government lost thousands of crores The Comptroller and Auditor General in its latest report has unearthed a massive scam involving forestlands being given over to industry without following laid down regulations - in violation of Supreme Court orders and forest laws - and involving large-scale misuse of funds leading to a loss to the government running into thousands of crores. The report blames some...