-The Hindu Bench offers limited and unidimensional explanations to petitioners’ queries The Supreme Court judgment upholding the new Haryana panchayat law, which limits the voter’s freedom to choose his own candidate in a participatory democracy, offers limited and unidimensional explanations to questions and issues raised by parties in court. The judgment by a Bench led by Justice J. Chelameswar does not explain why it considers the reasons for disqualification in Section 175 of...

-The Indian Express The residents of Nimkheda, a small settlement of 1,674 people in Haryana’s Mewat district, are visibly unsettled and worried Nimkheda (Mewat, Haryana): Dressed in a white salwar-kameez, her dupatta wrapped as a headscarf, an upset Ashubi Khan (55) thumped her right palm with her fist as she spoke in Mewati. “My illiteracy is not my fault, but a reflection of the state’s failure to fulfil its responsibilities. Did our...

-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 Indian Express The Haryana state government had turned down a suggestion to drop the educational criteria In a first, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a new law in Haryana, mandating minimum educational qualification as a pre-requisite for the candidates contesting panchayat polls. A bench led by Justice J Chelameswar dismissed a batch of petitions that had challenged the validity of the amendment in the pertinent law. The court ruled that the...

-PTI New Delhi: A PIL was today moved in the Delhi High Court against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governments plan to restrict plying of private vehicles having odd and even registration numbers on alternate days from January 1 in the national capital to combat air pollution. The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva who listed it for hearing on December 9. The petitioner, Shweta Kapoor,...