Is there any package for providing compensation to victims of bomb blasts? The Supreme Court posed this question to the Government while hearing a petition filed by a victim of the blast at Varanasi’s Sankatmochan Temple. The petitioner Anjani Kedia had claimed compensation money for his treatment caused by the explosion. The Bench has issued notices to the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government. Kedia, 30, claimed the explosion had left him with multiple fractures, burnt skin and hearing problems and the compensation amount of Rs 1 lakh was inadequate. He said he had spent over Rs 5 lakh on treatment and requested the court to direct the Centre and the UP government to bear the expenses.

Land scam: SC asks for Neera Yadav’s files

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court asked the Mulayam Singh government to produce files relating to dropping of departmental proceedings against former UP chief secretary Neera Yadav. The court was hearing a petition which initially had sought a probe into the land allotment irregularities in Noida when Neera was its CEO. Later, its scope was enlarged to look into related things, including the status of inquiries against her. The petitioners had challenged the UP government’s decision to drop administrative proceedings against Yadav, indicted by the Murtaza Hussain Commission which inquired into the corruption in the land deals. Later, the Justice K T Thomas Commission too had upheld as unjustifiable, the UP government’s decision to drop the charges.