Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's offer to face the Public Accounts Committee over spectrum scam appears to be a last-minute idea to rebuff the perception about UPA being mired in corruption, after Sonia Gandhi made a strong pitch for probity at the plenary on Sunday. After the PM created a buzz with his PAC offer, there was speculation that it was an idea which struck late. The offer for PAC came in...
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Singh targets ‘ethical deficit’
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today appeared to back the environmental evangelism blessed by Rahul Gandhi and pursued by Jairam Ramesh, saying “the business practices of some corporate houses have come under intense Public Scrutiny for their perceived ethical deficit”.Although the Prime Minister’s statement, made at India Corporate Week, carries echoes of the corruption charges now swirling around the country, the preceding sentences suggest environment issues were on his mind.Immediately after...
More »Choice challenged by V Venkatesan
The appointment of P.J. Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner comes under Supreme Court scrutiny.ON November 8, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar asked the Attorney-General, G.E. Vahanvati, whether Central Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas was an “outstanding civil servant” as required by the Central Vigilance Commission Act.The Bench was yet to get a firm reply to the question on December...
More »A primer on the CAG by MV Kali Prasad
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is a Constitutional Authority set up by the Constitution of India. Provisions of the CAG are contained in Article 148 (Comptroller and Auditor General of India), 149 (Duties and powers of the CAG), 150 (Form of accounts of the Union and of the States), and 151 (Audit reports) of the Constitution. He draws a salary equal to the judge of the Supreme Court.POWERS...
More »Panel suggests stringent punishment for torture by Gargi Parsai
The Select Committee on the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 has recommended stringent punishment for acts of torture by a public servant, including life imprisonment and death sentence for death caused by torture in custody.The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May but was referred to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee following concerns over certain inadequacies in the draft legislation.Chairman of the Select Committee Ashwini Kumar told journalists...
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