The Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act should be repealed, says Margaret Sekaggya, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders. “The Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Public Safety Act should be repealed and application of other security laws which adversely affect the work and safety of human rights defenders should be reviewed,” she told a press conference.

Security forces have stepped up vigil in Jammu and Kashmir following infiltration attempts by cross border outfits and the proposed BJP’s “Ekta Yatra” where the party plans to hoist the tricolour in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk area on Republic Day.

A day after the Australian firms threatened to file a lawsuit on delays in payments related to the CWG, Indian music company T-Series has filed a legal suit complaining that the OC violated copyright norms by using the songs for the event without paying for it or taking the copyright from them. The company has filed a claim of `1 crore.

After Australia, now it is Britain asking for payment due to a private company for services rendered during the Commonwealth Games.
British high commissioner to India, Richard Stagg has asked for expediting payment of `96 crores to British broadcaster SIS Live, under its contract with Prasar Bharati for coverage of the Games.

The high-level Shunglu Committee (HLC), headed by former Comptroller-and-Auditor-General (CAG) V.K. Shunglu, appointed by the government to look into the allegations of corruption in the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, on Friday put out the list of 2,100 persons appointed by the Organising Committee and sought more information on these individuals.

The CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in overlays contracts has revealed that certain “foreign nationals” allegedly played the role of middlemen between the Organising Committee members and the overseas firms whose Indian consortiums had bagged the contracts.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Friday said that his comments on the CAG report was just to put forth government’s view on the issue before the general public as it was not getting an opportunity to do so in Parliament and he had no intention to show disrespect to any institution.

Rebutting point by point telecom minister Kapil Sibal’s claim that the CAG erred in its report on 2G licences, Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday asked the minister to withdraw his statement.

Senior BJP leader and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Murli Manohar Joshi has written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar requesting her to ensure that the authority of the PAC and CAG is not impinged upon by ministers. Dr Joshi has asked the Speaker to take “prompt” steps to stop “such constitutional impropriety” by ministers. He has asked whether it was appropriate for a minister, particularly the one holding the charge of the ministry concerned, to cast aspersions on the CAG report after it has been tabled in the House.

With the government deciding to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the controversial Telangana issue, in the first week of February, and amidst divergence of views among MPs of Andhra Pradesh over the controversial issue, the Andhra chief minister Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy on Friday called on the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and is believed to have discussed the emotive statehood issue. Also the Telangana subject came up for discussion in the congress core group meeting attended by Prime Minister Dr Singh, Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi and other top brass of the party.