-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday admitted that it had erred by directing the government to appoint only retired apex court judges and high court chief justices as heads of information commissions at the central and state levels. Restoring the position provided under the Right To Information Act for appointment of chiefs of information commissions, a bench of Justices A K Patnaik and A K Sikri erased...

-The Hindu The quality of mercy, Shakespeare would be disappointed to learn, seems highly strained in India. If Maganlal Barela, a convict on death row in Jabalpur Central Jail, is still alive, he has a newspaper report that broke the story of his imminent hanging to thank for the temporary reprieve. Barela was sentenced to death in 2011 by the Madhya Pradesh High Court for murdering his five infant daughters,...

-The Hindu     In June, the CIC ruled that political parties should come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act In a landmark judgment, in June this year, the Central Information Commission (CIC) ruled that political parties should come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act. The CIC order noted: "We have no hesitation in concluding that INC/AICC, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP and BSP have been substantially financed by the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: "Can citizens expect fair governance," asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday, exasperated by the repeated reference to alleged involvement of middlemen in the Radia tapes, a cache of intercepted phone conversations of former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with businessmen, politicians, journalists and bureaucrats. After going through the court-appointed team's analysis of transcripts of all 5,831 telephone intercepts, the CBI's 2G scam probe team through senior advocate...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court today ticked off the government for "dilly dallying" on an affordable drug pricing policy, following a petition that said the delay was aimed at pushing through suggestions of the powerful manufacturers' lobby. A bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and Gopala Gowda asked the Centre to respond within six weeks. The All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) had filed the application saying the government was delaying a...