Daily Bulletin

Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla is set to inaugurate a two-day Conference of Chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of Parliament and State/UT Legislatures in Thiruvananthapuram, Keralam, on November 3, 2026. The conference, themed ‘Audit, Accountability and Good Governance – The Evolving Role of the PAC’, will facilitate discussions on public financial management and enhancing legislative scrutiny.

The Delhi Police issued Standing Order no. L&O/48/2026 on October 11, 2026, denotifying Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site and proposing Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground, and CBD Ground as alternatives. This decision has raised constitutional concerns regarding the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech under Article 19, with critics arguing it may amount to a de facto prohibition by relocating demonstrations far from public view and institutions of government. The Supreme Court, which previously warned against restrictions rendering protests invisible in the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) v Union of India (2018) case, has issued notice to the Centre and Delhi Police on a challenge to this denotification.

The Opposition INDIA bloc conducted a symbolic "public impeachment" of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at the residence of Congress president and Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi. Presided over by former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, the event saw Opposition leaders and civil society members pass a resolution accusing Kumar of "deleting votes to steal elections" and demanding his trial for "treason." Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi termed the event a "political weapon" against those allegedly colluding to undermine Indian votes, while Kharge detailed charges including the deletion of 13.2 crore voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Justice S.K. Kaul's recently released memoir, 'Without Fear or Favour', co-authored with Jay Vinayak Ojha, has offered rare insights into the opaque functioning of the Supreme Court Collegium and his disagreements with Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud's tenure. The memoir recounts a December 2022 disagreement over the recommendation of six names for Supreme Court appointment, where Justice Kaul suspected government influence regarding one name, and a subsequent incident on January 31, 2023, when Justices Rajesh Bindal and Aravind Kumar were recommended for elevation.

The memoir by Justice S.K. Kaul also highlights systemic issues in judicial appointments, including a 2021 plea by the Advocates Association Bengaluru seeking contempt proceedings against the Union for delaying Collegium recommendations, which was removed from his bench on November 20, 2023. Furthermore, the Supreme Court Observer's November 2024 analysis revealed that the Union had not cleared 27 names recommended by the CJI Chandrachud-led Collegium for High Court appointments, with only 22 notified by October 2026, and 24 percent of names proposed by CJI Sanjiv Khanna's Collegium also remaining uncleared.

The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) has challenged provisions of India's data protection framework before the Supreme Court, raising significant concerns about their implications for investigative journalism and the public's right to know. This legal challenge highlights a crucial ethical dilemma for a democracy: how to effectively balance individual privacy rights with the imperative of transparency and accountability, particularly concerning matters of public interest.

The Punjab Assembly passed five resolutions on October 27, 2026, seeking to revisit decades-old river water-sharing arrangements, a move highlighted on Punjab Day, November 1. Key demands include an equitable share in Yamuna waters, a royalty of Rs 1.44 lakh crore from Rajasthan for the use of Sutlej, Ravi, and Beas waters, control over key headworks, repeal of the Dam Safety Act, 2021, and projects to utilise Ravi waters currently flowing towards Pakistan. This legislative action follows a written assurance given by the state government to protesting farmers on September 7.

Punjab's renewed demands for water reallocation are rooted in historical arrangements, such as the 1955 division of 15.85 million acre-feet (MAF) of surplus Ravi-Beas waters, and the subsequent 1966 Punjab Reorganisation Act which led to the creation of Haryana. While the 1981 Tripartite Agreement allocated 4.22 MAF to Punjab and 3.5 MAF to Haryana, the state's previous attempt to unilaterally terminate agreements through the 2004 Punjab Termination of Agreements Act was declared constitutionally invalid by the Supreme Court in 2016. Legal experts note that Punjab's claim for royalty from Rajasthan is challenging under Section 7 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.