A month after the Bombay high court order which declared all houses on private forest land as illegal, embattled chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday stepped in to protect the estimated one lakh flats of 'innocent' persons on forest lands in the suburbs, especially in the Powai-Bhandup-Mulund-Thane-Kandivli-Borivli belt covering about 1,500 hectares. Another 75,000 flats are under construction in these areas.

The Delhi High Court has criticized the government for undue delay in providing alternate plots to citizens whose land was acquired for planned development of the Capital and said that it is the duty of the government to arrange for plots at moderate prices.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is now planning to launch a vigorous campaign for the rounding up of stray cattle and removal of illegal diaries to meet the Delhi High Court deadline. The MCD has written to the Home ministry and asked for a police force comprising 130 police personnel on a permanent basis till August 31, 2008.

Use of clean fuel is mandatory within 30 sq km of Victoria Memorial The state pollution control board and police will soon launch a drive to identify hotels, restaurants and other establishments violating a high court order banning the use of coal for cooking within 3 km of Victoria Memorial Hall. Violators may attract closures, fines and even FIRs. The decision to launch the joint drive was taken at a recent meeting between environment department officials and Calcutta police top brass at Lalbazar.

Muniyamma, 30, and her family survived the tragic Boxing Day of 2004. But its aftermath has left her a widow and her four children fatherless. Her husband Pazhanivel, 38, immolated himself as the district administration tried to evict tsunami refugees from a temporary shelter in Kadambadi, near Nagapattinam.

"We will seek justice in the honourable High Court of Bombay" said Dr Shekhar Salkar, General Secretary of National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE). "Amitabh Bachchan was clearly shown smoking a cigar [in 'Family' film] in all the display-hoardings prominently. This amounts to clear and unambiguous breach of the law prevalent within the state and the country. However the session court did not appreciate the view of NOTE India, thereby absolving the respondents of the charges" added Dr Salkar.

The Sindh High Court Sukkur bench has directed the Sindh Environment Department to test the quality of drinking water being supplied in Sukkur and submit a report within a week. The bench, comprising Justice Dr Rana Mohammad Shamim and Justice Farrukh Zia G. Shaikh, issued these directives on Wednesday, on a petition filed by a Sukkur-based journalist, Lala Asad Pathan, through his lawyer, Ghulam Shabbir Shar, stating that the water being supplied in Sukkur was contaminated and unfit for human consumption.

on april 23, the Delhi High Court will hear a case that is being dubbed as a "conflict between commercial interests and public health'. There are two main players

February 2006: Divya Raghunandan of Greenpeace files RTI application with Department of Biotechnology (DBT), seeking data on gm plants

March 2006: DBT gives information on trial sites; says rest of the data is confidential and proprietary and cannot be shared

April 2006: Raghunandan goes to DBT's Appellate Authority for help

Besides directing the State Government to remove all encroachments on the Pallikaranai marshlands, the Madras High Court has directed the Chennai Corporation not to permit the four municipalities