-The Hindustan Times A Right to Information Activist has submitted a video CD to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, in which a BJP Lok Sabha MP has been allegedly shown receiving cash and in return promising land to a private party. RTI Activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya submitted the controversial “cash-on-camera” CD, to the Speaker on April 27 and sought an impartial probe into the matter. He requested the Speaker to reopen the...

-The Financial Express A case of cheating and criminal conspiracy was lodged against an RTI Activist here for allegedly taking a residential plot from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) using false documents. RTI national awardee Manoj Karwasra was booked yesterday under Section 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC for allegedly availing the plot under the defence category quota on a false affidavit of ex-servicemen, police said. In his complain,...

At least 75 complaints of corruption and misconduct against serving judges of the Supreme Court and high courts were forwarded in the last one year for “appropriate action” by the government to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and chief justices of concerned high courts.   The justice department of the law ministry, which forwards these complaints, has told HT that it “is unaware of any action taken on these complaints” by...

The implementation of Right to Education Act may have got a shot in the arm with the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the 25% reservation in unaided private schools for children from lower income group families but inAndhra Pradesh (and possibly other states in the country), the Act might soon figure among the many well-intentioned government schemes that do not impact, leave alone benefit, its target group. At best, the...

The Supreme Court has taken steps to lay down a code for media reporting. This attempt at prior restraint on the media is a dangerous move with precedent from authoritarian polities. In a context where the judiciary has been lax in defending the media from attacks which seek to curb its freedom, such unilateral moves will not remedy bad reporting but rather make conditions worse for the media to play...