-The Hindu Rather than criminalising bribegivers, the objective of combating coercive corruption would be achieved if the government puts in place a grievance redress mechanism The Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), the key legislation which defines what constitutes corruption and prescribes penalties for corruption-related offences, is set to be amended by Parliament. The proposed Bill, now before a select committee of the Rajya Sabha, includes several contentious amendments that are likely to...

-The Indian Express It doesn’t have sufficient power and independence, and seems unworkable. The absence of an adequately independent and empowered body to investigate and prosecute allegations of corruption, especially relating to the rich and the powerful, has been a longstanding concern in India. The Central Vigilance Commission’s (CVC) relative independence has proved ineffective as it has few resources at its disposal while the CBI, which is relatively empowered, lacks independence —...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The total period of trial in corruption cases will not exceed four years with a special judge initially required to wind up proceedings in two years itself. Thereafter the trial can be extended, subject to six-month extension, states the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2015 currently before the Rajya Sabha. The bill also stipulates recording of reasons for any delay in trial beyond two years and includes...

-The Hindu Without a head, functioning of Central Information Commission has come to a halt When the Bharatiya Janata Party won by a massive majority in the general election last year, one of the key election promises that brought it to power was transparency and accountability in governance. A year later, many of the electoral promises made on that front remain on paper — the Lokpal Bill and the Grievance Redressal Bill,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: In a big relief to India Inc, the Modi Government will be moving amendments to the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2013 brought by the UPA, to ensure corporate bosses are not in the dock unless they have expressly connived in or consented to a corrupt act of their juniors. The original bill brought in 2013 to amend the 1988 Prevention of Corruption Act extended the liability...