The Centre is mulling summary dismissal of public servants chargesheeted for corruption. The move will ensure that government will not have to wait for long-drawn court battle to sack officials found guilty of corruption. But it is to be seen if such a provision will extend to politicians who are classified as "public servants" in the anti-graft law. A GoM on tackling corruption will take a call on the issue while hammering...

Adequate involvement of academicians and policy makers is most essential for effective management of forests and common resources in the country, said Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of environment and forest. Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural ceremony of the 13th biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC), being held in the city on Monday, the Union minister put the spotlight on the environmental...

While there will be general agreement that the judgement in Binayak Sen's case represents a gross miscarriage of justice, most people will attribute it to the overzealousness of a lower judicial functionary, or, at the most, to the prevailing atmosphere in the state of Chhattisgarh. If the trial had been held elsewhere, they would argue, Binayak would not have got the verdict he did. They are probably right, just as...

Talking tough, the Supreme Court today questioned the Government as to why it was reluctant in disclosing the names of Indian nationals who have allegedly stashed black money in foreign banks. "What is the difficulty in disclosing the information," a Bench comprising B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar asked when Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium informed the bench that Government has got the details but did not want to reveal it. The...

The trial court judgment holding Binayak Sen guilty of sedition has led to widespread outrage. IN India's legal history, no trial court judgment in a criminal case has perhaps caused as much international outrage as the December 24, 2010, judgment of the Second Additional District and Sessions Judge of Raipur, B.P. Verma, did. In his 92-page judgment, Judge Verma convicted Dr Binayak Sen, the well-known human rights activist and medical...