KOLKATA - Throwing a challenge to the opposition Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Housing Minister Gautam Deb Tuesday said he was ready for a probe by the prime minister's office (PMO) in the alleged wrong doings in land acquisition at Rajarhat on the outskirts of the city.

NEW DELHI - The instrument of sanction which was treated as a "shield" against vexatious complaints has now become a "sword" to defeat the legal provisions on punishing corrupt pubic servants, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.

AHMEDABAD - The Gujarat high Court Tuesday provided temporary respite to the business establishments of the posh CG road area in the city even as it upbraided the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation for its "slow" drive against illegal constructions in other parts of the city.

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not obliged under the law to give sanction for prosecution of former telecom minister A. Raja in the scandal involving spectrum allocation to mobile companies merely on the basis of a letter, the government told the Supreme Court Tuesday.

AIZAWL/AGARTALA - The Mizoram government Tuesday said militants are obstructing the repatriation process of over 41,000 Reang tribal refugees, sheltered in six camps of north Tripura for the past 13 years.