Simmering differences between civil society members and government representatives spilled over on Monday after an attempt was made to bring the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the purview of the Lokpal Bill. In its fifth meeting on Monday, while government representatives—including senior Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, M.Veerappa Moily, P. Chidambaram and Salman Khursheed—expressed their reservations, civil society members said their demand was “non-negotiable” and threatened another agitation. While...
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Ramdev differs with Anna: 'PM can't be under Lokpal ambit'
Differences appeared to have cropped up in the civil society over the demand for inclusion of the Prime Minister and higher judiciary in the Lokpal Bill with Baba Ramdev opposing such a move. The yoga guru, to whom the government deputed the topmost tax official to convince him on the steps taken by government against black money, wondered at a press conference in Sehore how top positions like the Prime Minister...
More »Judicial magistrate convicted of corruption by Manas Dasgupta
Sentenced to two-year rigorous imprisonment A Judicial Magistrate (First Class) was on Monday convicted by the Ahmedabad (rural) special sessions court on the charges of corruption and amassment of wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income and sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment. According to the proceedings of the case, Premji Gohil, who was serving in a court at Bulsar district's Pardi in 2002, was found, by the Gujarat High Court...
More »Govt may stop acquisition of land beyond project requirement by Subodh Ghildiyal
The Centre could bring in a mechanism to stop entities from acquiring land beyond the project requirement, a practice which is at the heart of corruption and anger among landowners as seen in western UP. An amendment to the Land Acquisition Act could cap the maximum land to be acquired for different categories of projects or could install a process to check the feasibility of the demand for land. Acquisitions...
More »Contentious issues bog down Lokpal Bill panel by K Balchand
UPA government for excluding PM, higher judiciary and acts of MPs in Parliament from scrutiny The Joint Drafting Committee on the Lokpal Bill on Monday for the first time got bogged down by contentious issues. The UPA government opposed scrutiny by the Lokpal of the Prime Minister, the higher judiciary and acts of MPs inside Parliament — in the context of seeking cash for votes and for raising questions —...
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