-The Hindu In a fit of candour quite uncharacteristic of those holding high office, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said on Tuesday afternoon what everyone knows to be the truth about the autonomy and independence of India's premier investigation agency. "I am a part of the government, I am not an autonomous body," he blurted out when asked for his reaction to the Supreme Court expressing its disappointment and anger at the...

-The Times of India Less than 24 hours before the Supreme Court takes up the coal scam hearing on Tuesday, a blame game broke out within the government over who was responsible for incorrectly telling the court that the CBI had not shared the contents of its status report on " Coalgate" with the political executive. In a four-page letter to attorney general Goolam Vahanvati, additional solicitor general Harin Raval said he...

-The Indian Express In a big embarrassment to the government in the Coalgate case, the Supreme Court today termed as 'very disturbing' the CBI affidavit on sharing its report with the Law Minister and others and slammed the agency for having kept the court in the dark on the issue. Hearing the coal blocks allocation scam case in a packed courtroom, the bench said 'suppression' of the fact that CBI has...

-The Hindustan Times As the country enters the election year, the UPA Government has its task cut out in the form of legislative commitments which are looking increasingly difficult to fulfil. As many as 115 bills (excluding the finance bill) are pending before Parliament. Among these are the land acquisition and food security bills that for obvious reasons are high on the Congress-led coalition's social agenda in a poll year. Ninety-three of...

-The Times of India A year after the UPA presented a white paper on black money in Parliament, spelling out strategy to curb generation of illicit money and preventing its offshore flight, one of the most potent weapons created to tackle the menace and bring offenders to book - theincome tax department's Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) - stands dismantled and powerless. The last search-and-survey operation, better known as I-T raids,...