Judicial reforms

— Arup Kumar Dutta

It is a sad but true commentary on the socio-cultural scenario ofcontemporary India that, to the common man, the Judiciary is the only wing of the Indian democratic mechanism to have retained a semblance of integrity and social concern. With the veryfoundations of the Legislative and Bureaucratic wings being eroded by self-serving corruption, nepotism and lack of idealism, the Judiciary time and again has had to intervene in spheres not strictly within the ambit of its concern and pass judgements on issues such as environmental degradation, consumer protection, bandh-culture et al, simply because our legislators and bureaucrats have been lax in performing their assigned duties.

Tax payers told to avoid fraud mails

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (PTI): The I-T department has asked tax payers not to give out personal details like PAN card number and information about their credit cards on the internet in the wake of mushrooming fake e-mails hitting users’ inboxes.

Viewing with concern the spurt in fictitious and unauthorised e-mails landing in personal internet addresses of many people, the department is adding a word of ‘caution’ at the end of each mail sent by them.

“A number of tax payers have received e-mails with subjects like “tax refund” and “seeking refunds” prompting us to take such measures. Such messages continue to land in big numbers in individual e-mails,” a senior I-T department official said.