“The Empowered Committee is looking into all aspects of safety of the dam” There is nothing serious, grave or emergent about the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam warranting our interference at this stage, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday and asked Tamil Nadu and Kerala not to arouse people's feelings and create a fear psychosis. The Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A.S. Anand, was looking into all...

Remember the over 100 farmhouse plots allotted in Noida measuring at least 10,000 sq m each without an auction or a draw of lots, including two to Supreme Court advocate Shanti Bhushan and his son Jayant Bhushan? An audit has now found that not only was there no transparency in the allotment of these plots — 101 in all — but that the Noida Authority had fixed a very low rate,...

-The Indian Express   The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed export of unused stock of endosulfan insecticide, while retaining the complete ban imposed by it on its production, sale and use within the country. While allowing the export, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said the “dilution, packaging and export” of the agrochemical will be handled by public sector unit (PSU) Hindustan Insecticide Ltd. The Bench also said its previous...

The building collapse in Uttam Nagar that killed four people last week has again exposed how the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) as well as the state government are mired in large-scale corruption. The major cause of the incident, in which four people were killed, was reportedly the flouting of construction norms by the builder. Officials from MCD told Tehelka on condition of anonymity that the number of illegal buildings goes...

-PTI Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday got support from Press Council chief, Justice Markandey Katju, who said that he favoured filtering of “offensive material” on social networking sites as it could promote religious hatred. “The pictures and other content show religious figures of certain communities in a highly offensive and even pornographic manner. Such material is bound to create religious hatred and lead to most undesirable consequences,” the former Supreme Court...