The Chhattisgarh government has filed a writ petition in the Delhi high court against the Central government over Jayaswal Neco Ltd’s applications for mining leases in a case that throws light on the murky world of mining in India. The state alleges that the mid-sized steel-maker forged documents in its application to get iron ore mining leases in Rowghat in Bastar district and that the Union government directed it to consider...

-The Economic Times The Delhi High Court on Friday quashed criminal proceedings against Microsoft India, a fortnight after the company was exempted by a trial court in a similar case for hosting objectionable content online.  Microsoft India is the only company, out of the 21 websites, against whom both criminal and civil proceedings pending in the capital's High Court and trial court now stand quashed.  Justice Suresh Kait set ASIde the trial court's...

The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that appropriate steps would soon be taken to amend the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 to eliminate manual scavenging. Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval told a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad that necessary amendments would be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. The ASG also assured the court that the government would...

The Supreme Court has decided to examine whether the printer and publisher of a newspaper or magazine is a necessary party in criminal defamation proceedings when the editor is already cited as an accused in a defamation complaint. A Bench of Justices P. SathASIvam and J. Chelameswar in a brief order on Friday said: “The important question arises [in this petition], namely, in a case of complaint under Sections 499, 500...

-Bloomberg   World food prices will drop this year as increase in unemployment in developing and developed countries slows growth in demand, the United Nations said.   “We have started to see a decline in food prices,” Jose Graziano da Silva, director general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, said at a conference in Hanoi on Thursday. World economic expansion will slow to 3.3% this year from 3.8% in 2011, according to the International...