-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday cleared a legislation to set up a long-pending real estate regulator aiming to protect home buyers from unscrupulous developers and builders. A real estate regulator - to be set up in every state - will ensure that private developers get all their projects registered with it before sale and only after obtaining all necessary clearances. "It will be mandatory for developers under...

-The Hindu Had the court known that Pratibha Patil was not told of the dissent in the Bhullar case, the outcome of his appeal might have been similar to that of Das's plea The Supreme Court, in the course of just one month, has rendered two judgments that appear to be contradictory. As both the judgments have been rendered by the same Bench, comprising two judges, they need to be studied...

-The Times of India The National Advisory Council (NAC) on Friday approved mandatory public consultation on new laws and rules before they are brought to Parliament. This will for the first time provide an institutional structure for civil society representatives to express their views. The "pre-legislative process'' was brought in the wake of increasing dissatisfaction over legislations piloted by the government, especially the Lokpal Bill. The move was initiated by NAC...

-The Hindu Death-row convict, Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, whose writ petition against the rejection of his mercy petition on the ground of INOrdinate and unexplained delay was dismissed by the Supreme Court on April 12, perhaps, has reason for hope with a former Judge of the Supreme Court, Justice M.B. Shah, reiterating his case for commuting his death sentence. Justice Shah was the dissenting Judge who found Bhullar innocent, while two...

-The Times of India With over 16 activists killed and thousands under attack or threatened, RTI activists have demanded a stronger whistleblower law, including provisions for accountability and compensation for victims. The Whistleblowers Protection Bill is likely to come up in Parliament in the budget session starting next week. But activists feel that the Bill in its present form is not strong enough to prevent deaths. National Campaign for People's Right to...