The mercury on Monday slid further in many parts of north India, claiming eight more lives in UP, even as Delhiites got some respite from the bone-chilling cold with the day temperature rising by over 4ºC.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is likely to make a fresh endeavour to break the deadlock in Parliament on the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Ms Kumar is expected to call leaders of political parties, who could not join her a fortnight ago, to discuss the issue ahead of the Budget Session.

With reports pouring in of the CPI(M) arming its cadres, speculation is rife that a section of Marxists leaders in West Bengal are forcing the state administration to set up a unit along the lines of the state-sponsored salwa judum in Chhattisgarh. The Union home ministry has been informed that 95 camps of armed Marxists cadres have already been set up in West Midnapore.

While refusing to take cognisance of communications minister Kapil Sibal’s claim that there was no loss to the government in allocation of 2G spectrum during the tenure of his predecessor, Mr A. Raja, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, Trai and 11 telecom companies on a petition for cancelling their 2G licences for allegedly failing to roll out services.

A committee constituted to review the Television Rating Point (TRP) system submitted its report to information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni on Monday. It has recommended increasing the sample size from the present 8,000 homes to 30,000 in both rural and urban areas over the next three years.

The Central Information Commission on Monday directed the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee to disclose all documents relating to controversial overlays purchases but allowed it to withhold the records used by the CBI in its probe. Hearing the plea of an RTI applicant seeking all the documents related to Commonwealth Games, information commissioner M.L. Sharma advised him to limit his query to one aspect of the mega event.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Bar Council of India on a petition of suspended Tamil Nadu Bar Council chairman R.K. Chandramohan on the charge of acting as a middleman on behalf of former telecom minister A. Raja in a bid to “fix” his relatives bail case.

The Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi is likely to appear before the CBI for questioning again on Tuesday. The CBI is investigating various cases of alleged corruption in the conduct of the Games.

Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily has issued a directive stating that all important files on which the law ministry has given an advice should be routed through him. The step assumes significance as the law ministry had recently come under criticism for its advice to the PMO on the 2G issue.

The CBI is expected to start second round of questioning of former telecom minister A. Raja and certain former officials of the department of telecommunications (DoT) very soon. According to sources, the second round of questioning will be done on the basis of fresh evidence, which has surfaced after recent questioning of several officials of the DoT and certain private persons.