-Outlook Mumbai: Observing that the government has the power to transfer officials in special cases before completion of the tenure posting, the Bombay High Court has upheld the transfer of a senior police inspector following allegations of biased investigations. A division bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar was hearing a petition filed by senior police inspector Sanjeev Kokil, challenging his transfer from the MRA Marg police station in south Mumbai to...

-The Hindustan Times In a ruling that would be music to the ears of babus, the Supreme Court (SC) has held that a government officer’s personal details such as income-tax (I-T) returns cannot be divulged in response to a query under the Right to Information Act (RTI) unless a larger public interest was involved. Disclosure of such information would amount to unwarranted invasion of an officer’s privacy, it said. “The performance of...

-The Times of India Giving a new lease of life to various recommendations on police reforms including abolition of 'orderly' system in police force and evaluating quality of service at police stations by citizens, the Centre has written to states asking them to take action on several 'measures' relating to over four dozen 'functional areas' of policing which may help in improving 'law and order' machinery. Though a number of suggestions had...

-The Times of India The Centre on Thursday promised to notify a new drug pricing mechanism for essential medicines by the end of November, but the Supreme Court said a change in policy must not force a sharp rise in drug prices to hurt an already hassled common man. Additional solicitor general Siddharth Luthra informed a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya that a Cabinet note on the...

-The Indian Express An IIM-Ahmedabad analysis of education and employment amongst Muslims in the country has concluded that the minority community has a higher perception of “unfairness” and “discrimination” and that Muslims have, in fact, a stronger case for reservations than the Hindu OBCs. Incidentally, a Central government notification in December 2011 to effect 4.5 per cent minority quota in Central educational institutes was stayed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court earlier...