-The Hindu   The Goa government on Tuesday filed a reply before the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court to a Public Interest Litigation petition on illegal mining, claiming that the extraction, which the petitioner questioned, was from dumps and excess mining did not take place. The affidavit was submitted on behalf of Director of Mines and Geology Arvind Loliekar in the course of the hearing on the Goa Foundation's petition, which...

-The Hindu   The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has refused to grant a clearance to Lavasa's ambitious lake city project in the hills near Pune, and it's putting the blame on the shoulders of the Maharashtra government. In its order, dated October 13, MoEF notes that in its June order and affidavit to the Bombay High Court, it was willing to clear Lavasa's first phase, subject to five preconditions. Lavasa...

-The Times of India   Lavasa, touted as India's first planned hill city, suffered a setback on Friday. The Union environment and forests ministry refused to grant Lavasa, being built near Pune, a green clearance till the Maharashtra government takes action against the project for its existing violations. The company cannot continue construction work till it gets the clearance. The ministry's order is bound to delay the project for a while, if not...

-The Hindu   The former Director-General of Police of Gujarat, Julio Francis Ribeiro, on Thursday condemned the arrest of suspended Gujarat cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who took on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged role in the 2002 post-Godhra riots. “I condemn the action of the Modi government arresting him and doing something unconscionable which is not within the limits of morality,” Mr. Ribeiro told a press conference organised by...

-DNA   The Bombay High Court has stayed an order passed by the State Information Commission (SIC) which stated that Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra), the Anil Ambani-led company, is also covered under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. A division bench of Justice BH Marlapalle and Justice Nishita Mhatre granted an interim stay and directed the government to file a reply in eight weeks while hearing an appeal filed by R-Infra against the...