-The Economic Times   The Supreme Court has issued notices to social activist Anna Hazare on a Public Interest Litigation, seeking direction to CBI to investigate 'financial irregularities' in his trust. The court also sought response from Hazare on the plea seeking his prosection for alleged siphoning of funds. A bench comprising Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Desai also sought responses from the Centre, CBI and the Maharashtra Government on the...

-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...

A fresh Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday challenging the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s civil nuclear power programme. The PIL, filed by lawyer Prashant Bhushan on behalf of many former public officials and eminent citizens, makes several demands of the Supreme Court, but most significantly asks it to cancel “clearances given to proposed nuclear power plants and staying all proposed nuclear power plants” till satisfactory...

-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...

-PTI Even as a controversy rages over the Rs. 32 per capita per day poverty line, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said “it is not all that ridiculous” in Indian conditions. “The fact is that Rs. 4,824 per month for a family [of five] to define poverty is not comfortable but it is not all that ridiculous in Indian conditions,” Mr. Ahluwalia said in a letter to Attorney-General Goolam...