The coal block allocation scam is nearing a crucial phase, with the court ruling that no sanction is necessary to prosecute top civil servants while it is monitoring it. The CBI is being nudged to complete its investigation and it has to show results in the coming weeks.
Sorting out Aadhaar cards
The Aadhaar case vanished from the court radar after a terse order a few months ago that no citizen should suffer for want of this unique identity card. The order created a murky situation with the Centre and states speaking in different tongues. One of the earliest tasks before the court is to sort out the mess so that this ambitious scheme could continue to benefit the public.
Sahara investors' nightmare
The Sahara saga, after months of prevarication, is also approaching a critical stage with its promoter Subrata Roy and top executives barred from leaving the country and a strict embargo on transactions with regard to the properties of the group companies till the court decides on the return of Rs 20,000 crore collected from the public in bonds.
Safety of Kudankulam plant
Though the Kudankulam nuclear plant has been commissioned, litigants are returning to the court alleging that it is running without following the 15 conditions regarding its safety imposed in its judgment.
Tied up in Radia tapes
The Niira Radia tapes, which implicated a large number of companies and their honchos, had gone behind bolted doors of the judges' chambers as Ratan Tata raised seminal questions of privacy of individuals versus the freedom of the media. The case will come out of the closet within a few weeks. This time, it will be before a new Bench as Justice G S Singhvi, who spearheaded the case till now, has retired.
Bitter battles over medicines
There are more bitter medicines for multinational pharmaceutical companies even after the Novartis judgment in the patent case. The court has asked the government to bring a report in January on the trials on 157 drugs which were not evaluated and had not passed the three-tier mandatory tests. The court is monitoring the procedure following complaints of misuse of clinical tests on unsuspecting patients. In another PIL, the court is watching the drug price orders to make medicines available at reasonable rates.
Gas pricing saga
The Chief Justice has promised to hear this month two petitions involving the pricing of the KG Basin gas and a dispute on arbitration between Mukesh Ambani-owned RIL and the government. One moved by Gurudas Dasgupta, MP, and another Common Cause, challenge the Centre's decision to raise the price of natural gas. They have also questioned the agreement on arbitration.
Disturbances in the air
In the second week of the month, the Chief Justice will take up the petition of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy with the reply of the government on the Jet-Etihad deal. Challenging the agreement, the BJP leader has alleged that there was a grant of largesse of a national asset to a foreign airline (Etihad Airways), giving it undue enrichment at the cost of the public, national and domestic airlines as well as airports.
Bloggers' angst
The omnibus provision in the Information Technology Act, which allows the authorities to arrest anyone who blogs against netas and babus will be examined by the court early this year. This rule has been used against innocent youths who had posted "objectionable comments" on social issues and economic corruption. Presently, the court has ordered that no person shall be arrested under Section 66A of the Act for posting comments on social networking websites without prior approval from an officer not below the rank of inspector general of police.
