-PTI In a major relief for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati, the Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed petitions against her in the Taj Corridor case. The Lucknow bench of the court also dismissed the petitions against her cabinet colleague Naseemuddin Siddiqui. Passing the order, the bench comprising justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Ashwani Kumar Singh said all petitions were devoid of merit and were accordingly being dismissed. BSP leader and...

-Mid Day Senior PWD officials in collusion with contractors used bogus bills to issue cheques to withdraw state funds from RBI; cops took six months to register FIR despite complaint in April.  Mumbai: One of the biggest scams in recent times has come to light at the state administration level, involving senior officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) and fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 112.58 crore from government accounts.  It is said that bogus...

-Outlook Journalistic activities should be kept out of the purview of the proposed right to privacy law, a government appointed expert panel has suggested. The group headed by retired Justice A P Shah, in its report, suggested that publication of personal data for artistic and journalistic purposes need not be considered as infringement of privacy under the proposed legislation. Besides, the group suggested that government could exempt application of privacy law in case...

-The Hindu The conviction rate for every kind of crime is in free fall, engendering a breakdown of law that no republic can survive Even criminals, back in 1953, seemed to be soaking in the warm, hope-filled glow that suffused the newly free India. From a peak of 654,019 in 1949, the number of crimes had declined year-on-year to 601,964. Murderers and dacoits; house-breakers and robbers — all were showing declining enthusiasm...

-The Hindustan Times The Haryana government has notified a policy to provide security to whistleblowers and Right to Information (RTI) activists. An official spokesman said on Tuesday that a whistleblower could be a person who made a complaint or exposed any government office or undertaking or company about an attempt to commit or commission of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. He said an RTI activist was a person...