The appointment of P.J. Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner comes under Supreme Court scrutiny.ON November 8, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar asked the Attorney-General, G.E. Vahanvati, whether Central Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas was an “outstanding civil servant” as required by the Central Vigilance Commission Act.The Bench was yet to get a firm reply to the question on December...
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Enter the watchdog by KP Shashidharan
Recently an interesting article appeared in The New York Times on how after the completion of a social audit at Nagarkurnool in Andhra Pradesh, villagers punished a local official for swindling funds allocated to the central government's flagship project, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. The irate villagers tied the official's hands and paraded him around the neighbouring villages. This is not a one-off incident; similar accounts have...
More »UN human rights chief voices concern at reported ‘cyber war’ against WikiLeaks
The United Nations human rights chief voiced concern today over reported ‘cyber war’ pressure on private companies to sever links with the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, saying this could amount to attempted censorship in breach of international covenants. “If WikiLeaks has committed any recognizable illegal act, then this should be handled through the legal system, and not through pressure and intimidation, including on third parties,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi...
More »Legal rights awareness camps for Dalits
In a bid to re-target and empower the Dalit population — especially in States like Uttar Pradesh, which is bound for Assembly elections in 2012 — the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, under its new chairman P.L. Punia, has decided to organise camps to apprise Dalits of their legal rights.According to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, these awareness camps will be held in all divisions and mandals of...
More »Babus fined Rs 1 for blocking information by Sanjeev Devasia
What do you think should be the fine for information officers denying information to citizens? Re 1, nothing more or less, according to a State Information Commissioner.An RTI response sought by activist Vihar Durve in June 2010 revealed that Konkan Information Commissioner Navin Kumar imposed a penalty of Re 1 in two cases of appeals between 2005 and 2008 for stalling information.The first, imposed on July 5, 2008, was meant...
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