-The Indian Express Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and two IAS officers were among 55 people convicted by a special CBI court in New Delhi Wednesday of illegally recruiting teachers in 1999. All 55 convicts in the case, known as the JBT (Junior Basic Trained teachers) recruitment scam, were taken into judicial custody and sent to Tihar jail until January 22, when the court is scheduled...

-Outlook The Election Commission has proposed putting up a ban on opinion polls in media but the issue needs to be discussed and deliberated upon before initiating any legislative measure, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said today. In written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, he said, "A proposal of the Election Commission for putting ban on opinion polls during election has been received." Since this issue has a direct bearing on the...

-Outlook Former Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi and transparency activist Aruna Roy today moved the Supreme Court, seeking a review of its verdict on appointment of people from judiciary in information panels. They submitted that information commissions are not judicial tribunals and its members are not required to be judicially and legally trained. "The judgement has the potential of seriously impairing the RTI Act. The commissions are not judicial tribunals as they are not...

-The Times of India The Supreme Court on Thursday said it had directed appointment of retired judges as heads of information commissions at the Centre and state level to ensure their independence as many were headed by persons who "have been in the good books of government". "You will find the chief information commissioners, both at the Centre and state level, are persons who have been in the good books of the...

-Forbes India Why the recent Supreme Court ruling threatens to kill citizens’ Right to Information The Supreme Court has placed the Central Information Commission (CIC), the apex body to deal with appeals regarding RTI, as well as the Information Commissions across the states in a fine pickle. On September 13, a division bench of the Supreme Court, chaired by Justice AK Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar, passed an order which would fundamentally change...