February 3, 1984

New flaws forced transit officials to take one-sixth of New York City's Grumman Flxible buses out of service yesterday for an indefinite period. After conducting all-night inspections, the Transit Authority said they had found cracks near the rear wheel wells or in the front axle assemblies of 162 buses. Officials said they would be able to maintain normal service. It is the second time in less than a month that the authority has found defects in large numbers of its 871 Grumman Flxible buses, most of which began service in 1980. The buses make up about a fifth of the city's total bus fleet.

The Justice Department filed suit in Federal District Court today charging the city, Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson and other law enforcement officials with ''egregious and flagrant unconstitutional conditions'' in the city's jails. The complaint charges that conditions at the Green Street cell block and at three of the four police precinct holding units constitute ''cruel and unusual'' punishment and subject the inmates ''to life-threatening and health- threatening conditions.'' The Government is seeking an injunction to bar the city from confining prisoners under these conditions. Thomas Stewart, a Justice Department spokesman in Washington, said the court could order the city to correct the conditions if the case was not settled before going to trial.

If tax deductions grew on trees, business and job-related expenses would be among the most prolific branches - and also among the thorniest. Self-employed business people and outside salesmen have a far greater range of expenses that may be written off than most corporate employees do. But employees may deduct many costs incurred personally for their jobs or to improve their professional standing. ''It has to be an item that is intended to help you earn income or enhance your income,'' said Leon M. Nad, national director of technical tax services at the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse. Employees may deduct union dues, the cost of small tools, dues to professional associations, subscriptions to trade journals, the purchase and cleaning costs of uniforms, business phone calls made from home and even the cost of renting a tuxedo for a business-related function.

A high-ranking Nicaraguan official said today that the Government was prepared to grant financial subsidies and guarantee television and radio time to opposition parties in presidential elections promised for 1985. He also pledged that the army would accept the authority of the winner, even if from another party. The official, Tomas Borge, Minister of the Interior and one of the nine- member directorate, said in an interview that the Sandinista leadership might lift press censorship completely in the final phase of the political campaign. He estimated the campaign would last four to six weeks.

An 85-year-old former college president who has been fasting in a Syracuse nursing home to hasten his own death should be permitted to die, a state judge ruled yesterday. After hearing testimony on the patient's competency from his doctor, psychiatrist and daughter, the judge, Justice Donald H. Miller of State Supreme Court in Syracuse, ruled that the nursing home was neither obligated nor empowered to force-feed him. The man - the court ordered that his identity be kept secret - was said to be depressed over a series of illnesses. He has been fasting since Dec. 21.