-The Hindu   Every award of a lok adalat, including an order recording a settlement between the parties in a ‘cheque bouncing case' under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, is deemed a civil court decree, and as such it is executable by a civil court, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday. A Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and J. Chelameswar said: “Section 21 of the Legal Services Authorities Act does not...

All non-government organizations (NGOs), which receive donations from the public or receive foreign funds in excess of Rs 10 lakh, could come under the ambit of the Lokpal, according to the recommendations of the parliamentary panel on citizens' ombudsman's draft report. Significantly, this provision will allow NGOs run by activists like Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi and other Team Anna members to come under the anti-corruption watchdog.  If accepted...

-PTI The Parliamentary Standing Committee going into the Lokpal bill has recommended keeping out Judiciary and MPs' conduct in House out of its purview and rejected the demand for hiving off the prosecution wing of CBI to come under its jurisdiction. Members have unanimously recommended conferring constitutional status on the Lokpal and setting up of Lokpal and Lokayuktas in states under one legislation. The draft report on the Bill, which has been...

Do not put us all in the same category of “corrupt” judges; a judge with integrity need not worry about the judicial accountability bill, Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia said today, issuing an open challenge that if “you” want to dismantle the institution of Judiciary, first show how to build a better alternative. The CJI in his speech on the Supreme Court lawns on Law Day said it is...

What is our national aim? To my mind, our national aim must be to make India a highly prosperous country for its citizens, and for that it is necessary to have a high degree of industrialization.  Even setting up and running a single primary school requires a lot of money, e.g. for buying land, erecting the school building and providing for the recurrent expenditure for salaries of teachers, staff, etc. We...