-PTI The Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal bill has recommended keeping out judiciary and MPs' conduct in House out of its purview and rejected the demand for hiving off the prosecution wing of CBI to come under its jurisdiction. Members have unanimously recommended conferring constitutional status on the Lokpal and setting up of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in states under one legislation. The draft report on the Bill, which has been...

-The Hindu   Referring the matter back to the acting Chief Justice, Justice V.M. Sahai on Thursday said the split verdict given by the Division Bench on the Gujarat High Court's appointment of Justice (retired) R.A. Mehta as the State Lokayukta could not be taken up by a third judge till the other two judges gave, in writing, the points of difference in their respective rulings. Accepting the contentions put forth by the...

The Gujarat government's petition challenging the unilateral appointment of Justice R.A. Mehta as the State Lokayukta by Governor Kamala Beniwal has been referred to a third judge for a decision after a split verdict on the issue by the High Court last month. Justice V.M. Sahai on Wednesday began hearing the petition afresh and his judgment on the issue would carry the day since the last two judges gave contradictory views...

-The Telegraph   The CBI today began probing an Uttar Pradesh health scam running into thousands of crores that has led to the murders of two honest government doctors and the sacking of two ministers. The issue relates to the spending of Rs 10,000 crore allocated to the state under the National Rural Health Mission. CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said the agency had registered five preliminary inquiries on the orders of Allahabad High Court,...

-The Indian Express   Bihar is ready with the draft for a new Lokayukta Bill, which it plans to finalise by November 26 before getting it passed in the winter session of the Assembly. It is the second state, after Uttarakhand, to have prepared or reworked its Lokayukta laws before the Centre haspassed a Lokpal Bill. Unlike the Bihar Lokayukta Act, 1973, the new law will bring the chief minister under the Lokayukta’s...