-The Hindustan Times Investigating agencies may soon be required to seek the Centre's permission to question even senior retired officials in a corruption case, a move that is likely to pit it against the Supreme Court. No corruption investigation or inquiry can be opened against a senior serving government official - of the rank of joint secretary and above - without the government's nod, which often slows down the probe and also...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At loggerheads with the Centre for wanting to probe top bureaucrats without prior approval in the court-monitored investigation into the coal scam, the CBI on Tuesday startled the Supreme Court by saying it was under the stranglehold of babus who frustrated its every proposal. During arguments on the necessity to adhere to Section 6A of Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act in court-monitored and court-directed investigations,...

-Outlook The Uttar Pradesh government today reluctantly admitted before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that illegal sand mining was going on in the state and not even a single environmental clearance granted for it in Gautam Budh Nagar district. "We (UP government) have not caught anyone till now. It's there Lordship. Yes it (illegal sand mining) is going on," the counsel, appearing for Uttar Pradesh government and its Chief Secretary, said. A five-member...

-The Indian Express   How Chhattisgarh became a sanctuary, and then a laboratory, for Naxals Some time ago, Chhattisgarh hit the headlines because of a Maoist attack on state Congress leaders, in which V.C. Shukla and Mahendra Karma died. Since then, the Congress has accused the BJP government of a conspiracy, and some BJP leaders have accused former chief minister Ajit Jogi of being part of a conspiracy himself. Politicising this tragic episode...

-The Hindu The Supreme Court's timidity in dealing with the law on prior sanction for prosecuting public servants has offered protection to the murderous and the corrupt While the encounter murders in Pathribal and their cover up are yet another blot on India's record in Kashmir, the legal issues they raise on accountability to the law affect the entire country. They touch the very core of the rule of law that is...