Engineering courses will have fewer takers this year

Even before counselling for admission to engineering colleges under single window system begins this year, over 24,000 seats are up for grabs.

While 1,78,917 seats are available under single window admission, Anna University has received only 1,54,238 applications as on Monday.

While this is the status of seats under government quota, self-financing colleges have so far surrendered 21,741 seats from the management quota. Anna University officials expect another 5,000 seats under the management quota to be surrendered before general counselling begins on July 1.

With the number of engineering colleges in the State climbing up steadily in the last decade, the engineering admissions hit a plateau in the State in 2013-14 when the number of vacant seats crossed the one-lakh mark. Last year, there were 1.36 lakh vacancies.

“Students apply for engineering but would have taken admission elsewhere. We cannot allow natural death of colleges as this would affect the students. Instead, the government should initiate remedial measures like merging colleges,” says former Anna University VC E. Balagurusamy.

This year the number of first graduate applicants has also fallen. Only 80,446 first-generation learners have applied compared to last year when 92,000 candidates had sought admission. A total of 3,104 applicants will seek admission in the vocational category and 1,51,134 candidates will be admitted through academic counselling. A third of the applicants are girls.

Random numbers

On Monday, the 10-digit random numbers were generated for the 19th counselling session in the presence of Higher Education secretary Apoorva, Vice Chancellor M. Rajaram, registrar S. Ganesan and the media, with each providing two numbers.

V. Rhymend Uthariaraj, secretary, Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission, said a candidate’s score in Mathematics (100), Physics and Chemistry (50 marks each) will determine the cut-off marks. If 300-400 candidates had the same marks, those with a higher score in mathematics would get priority. If marks in mathematics are the same then a student with higher marks in physics would be ranked higher. If here too there is a tie, the fourth optional subject such as computer science or biology would be taken for calculation.

If the students remain tied at this position, their date of birth would be the basis to decide seniority. If a tie persists even after this, a candidate with higher random number would be given priority, Dr. Rhymend explained.

Candidates may check the random numbers on the university websitewww.annauniversity.eduby keying in their application numbers.

AIPMT cancelled, CBSE told to hold fresh exam

Merit cannot be a casualty, says Supreme Court

In a decision impacting over six lakh students across the country, the Supreme Court on Monday cancelled the All-India Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental Entrance Test held on May 3, 2015 due to exam fraud and ongoing investigation. It directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to hold a fresh examination within four weeks.

Any attempt to save the exam will “leave merit a casualty and generate frustration among genuine students”, the apex court said in its 41-page judgment.

A Bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and Amitava Roy held that if the court allowed the May 3 exam to survive, a wrong message would be sent that crime pays and students would be encouraged to resort to unfair means.

What’s most important, the court held, is to sustain the public’s faith in the exam system as a fair, transparent and credible method to evaluate the merit and worth of the candidates.

‘Price has to be paid’

“We are aware that the abrogation of the examination would result in some inconvenience to all concerned and that some extra time would be consumed for holding a fresh examination. This, however, is the price the stakeholders would have to suffer in order to maintain the impeccable and irrefutable sanctity and credibility of a process of examination,” Justice Roy wrote in the judgment.

The court exhorted the authorities to consider the conduct of the fresh exams as a “collective challenge.” It said fresh exams should be in compliance with the norms and “mindful” of the fact that the academic session is scheduled to start from August 1.

Plea to ‘segregate’ results rejected

The Court while cancelling the All-India Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental Entrance Test held on May 3, 2015, took into account that there was no guarantee that the police would be able to round up all the illegal beneficiaries of the cheating scandal.

In such a case, those who escape the police net would steal a march over genuine candidates by reaping the benefit of their illegality.

“The examination has become suspect. At present, the examination stands denuded of its sanctity as it is not possible to be cleansed of all the participating beneficiary candidates with certainty,” the judgment said.

The court dismissed the Central Board of Secondary Education’s suggestion to segregate the exam results of genuine students from the 44 candidates presently identified by the police as “beneficiaries” in the scandal. It also disagreed with the Board that a re-examination would see a delay of three to four months.

Police reports said 358 suspected mobile numbers were used and about 300 special vests fitted with SIM cards and Bluetooth devices were sneaked into exam halls. Seven persons, including two doctors and an MBBS student, have been arrested so far.

முறைகேடு புகார் எதிரொலி: மே 3-ல் நடந்த அகில இந்திய மருத்துவ நுழைவுத் தேர்வை ரத்து செய்தது உச்ச நீதிமன்றம்

சிபிஎஸ்இ சார்பில் கடந்த மே 3-ம் தேதி நடைபெற்ற அகில இந்திய மருத்துவ நுழைவுத் தேர்வை உச்ச நீதிமன்றம் ரத்து செய்துள்ளது.

மேலும், 4 வாரங்களுக்குள் மறு தேர்வை நடத்துமாறும் சிபிஎஸ்இ கல்வி வாரியத்துக்கு நீதிமன்றம் உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளது.

சிபிஎஸ்இ சார்பில் கடந்த மே 3-ம் தேதி அகில இந்திய மருத்துவ நுழைவுத் தேர்வு நடைபெற்றது. இத்தேர்வு முடிவுகள் கடந்த ஜூன் 5-ம் தேதி வெளியாக இருந்தது.

இதனிடையே ஹரியாணாவில் வினாத்தாள் கசிவு காரணமாக இத்தேர்வை ரத்து செய்யவேண்டும் என்று மாணவர்கள் சிலர் வழக்கு தொடர்ந்தனர்.

இந்த மனுவை விசாரித்த உச்ச நீதிமன்றம், இந்த முறைகேட்டில் எவ்வளவு பேர் பயனடைந்தார்கள் என அறிக்கை அளிக்கும்படி ஹரியாணா போலீஸாருக்கு உத்தரவிட்டது.

அப்போது உச்ச நீதிமன்ற நீதிபதிகள் ஆர்.கே.அகர்வால், அமிதாபா "“சட்ட விரோதமாக ஒரேயொரு மாணவர் பயனடைந்தாலும் அவர் தேர்வின் தரத்தை சீரழிக்கும். எம்.பி.பி.எஸ். படிப்புக்கான மருத்துவ நுழைவுத் தேர்வின் புனிதத்தை நாங்கள் தியாகம் செய்ய முடியாது.

இதைக் காக்க நீங்கள் தவறிவிட்டீர்கள். தேர்வு நடைமுறைகள் மிகவும் பழமையானவை. கடந்த 2 3 ஆண்டுகளாகவே இதுபோன்ற சம்பவங்கள் நடைபெறுகின்றன.

எனவே முந்தைய அனுபவத்தின் அடிப்படையில் சிபிஎஸ்இ உரிய நடவடிக்கை எடுத்திருக்க வேண்டும்" எனக் குறிப்பிட்டனர்.

"இத் தேர்வை மீண்டும் நடத்துவதா என்பது குறித்து வரும் 15-ம் தேதி நீதிமன்றம் முடிவு செய்யும். அதுவரை நுழைவுத் தேர்வு முடிவை சிபிஎஸ்இ வெளியிடக்கூடாது" என்றும் நீதிபதிகள் உத்தரவிட்டனர்.

அதன்படி இந்த வழக்கு இன்று (15-ம் தேதி) மீண்டும் விசாரணைக்கு வந்தது.

வழக்கில் தீர்ப்பை வழங்கிய நீதிபதிகள், "சிபிஎஸ்இ சார்பில் கடந்த மே 3-ம் தேதி நடைபெற்ற அகில இந்திய மருத்துவ நுழைவுத் தேர்வை இந்த நீதிமன்றம் ரத்து செய்கிறது.

சிபிஎஸ்இ மறு தேர்வை 4 வாரங்களுக்குள் நடத்த வேண்டும் என நீதிமன்றம் உத்தரவிடுகிறது" எனத் தெரிவித்தனர்.

Etihad airline misplaces 20 passengers’ luggage

Chennai: Twenty passengers, who had travelled by Etihad airlines from Dublin to Chennai on their trip from the US have been waiting for their baggage since they arrived on Saturday early morning.
Though the airlines had promised to retrieve the luggage of the passengers and deliver them at their houses by Monday morning, the passengers are waiting for the bags with their fingers crossed.

“Only if I get it in my hand, I can say anything about it. They say that they will deliver it at the time they have promised. We are hoping that all the contents will be in good shape when we receive our bags,” said S. Sridhar, a lawyer, one of the passengers who travelled in the airline and landed in Chennai on Saturday.

He had gone to the US to meet his son who is working there. “We reached Dublin from Chicago by Irish airlines on time. But after that it was chaos to catch the Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi and from there to Chennai,” he said.

“The airline claims that they had misplaced our luggage in Abu Dhabi. It is also possible that they had left our baggage behind in Dublin itself because the flight had just 30 minutes to land and take off at that airport,” he recalled. The staff at the airline counter had reportedly told the angry passengers that luggage going missing has become a routine affair with the airlines.

Bangalore University to File FIR in Exam Scam

BENGALURU:Bangalore University (BU) is all set to file an FIR in the cash-for-marks scam that was unearthed in the Distance Education Department in April 2014. Officials have prepared a 53,000-page document related to the case.

Varsity officials told Express they are through with documentation, which would be placed before the syndicate meeting on June 19. Speaking to Express, Vice-Chancellor K N Ninge Gowda said, “We are ready with the necessary documents and will file the FIR soon.”

According to sources, eight employees of the university, including custodians who are working with the Examination section, will be named in the FIR. “Following the internal inquiry report and the documents collected, we are naming eight employees in the FIR,” said an official.

The scam was unearthed after the city police registered a sou motu case on April 20, 2014 and arrested some who were allegedly involved in the cash-for-marks scam. Former syndicate member K B Vedamurthy and some custodians of the distance education examinations were arrested.

Later, the university constituted an internal probe committee headed by professor Jeevan Kumar from the faculty of Arts. Based on the committee’s report, BU had conducted fresh evaluation of all the answer scripts and withheld results of over 1,500 candidates where there was difference in marks.

“We have received a communication from the state government to file an FIR so that CID police can start an inquiry,” said BU officials.

The scam is related to undergraduate course distance education exams conducted in December 2013.

Theft connected to scams

University sources said the recent theft at the Vice-Chancellor’s office is also related to the scam. “The two major ongoing cases are releated to the distance education scam and about an engineering marks card issued to a fake student. We have strong doubt that people associated with these two cases attempted the steal and destroy the files or docu-ments. But, the files were not at the VC’s office,” said a senior BU official.

Errant colleges play smart, pay 25,000 penalty to save lakhs

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Technical University (RTU) has collected a penalty of Rs 30 lakh from 38 affiliated engineering colleges for ignoring the shortage of faculties.

The RTU has penalised these colleges with Rs 25,000 for each fake faculty shown by them during the inspection.

Strangely, after paying the penalty amount of Rs 25,000, the colleges were allowed to run their session without meeting the required number of faculties.

This came to light in response to an RTI application filed by activists Manoj Kamra and Sandeep Gupta.

Kamra accused the RTU of adopting this faulty policy in which you pay the penalty and enjoy the immunity for a year.

"Most of the colleges which violated the rule had paid the penalty very happily as they were aware that paying Rs 25,000 a year is a better option than paying Rs 25,000 and above to a faculty every month," added Kamra.

Both the activists contended that this practice will encourage other institutes to adopt similar methods as they pay an average package of Rs 3.5 lakh to a fresher (teacher).

They accused that this rule is in gross violation of UGC and AICTE guidelines which say that the affiliation of an institute should not be renewed if it doesn't have required number of faculties.

"Ideally, the RTU should have filed a police complaint against these errant colleges for violating our law. On the contrary, it bent the rules to favour them," said Gupta.

Such a practice is a gross violation of UGC guidelines as these colleges had furnished fake information regarding teachers in affidavits to the RTU while seeking affiliation.

The maximum penalty of Rs 2 lakh was paid by Sikar-based Sobhasaria Engineering College.

15–ந்தேதி முதல் அமல் ‘தட்கல்’ ரெயில் டிக்கெட் முன்பதிவு நேரம் மாற்றம் முதல் 30 நிமிட நேரம் ஏஜெண்டுகளுக்கு தடை

புதுடெல்லி,


ஏ.சி. அல்லாத பெட்டிகளுக்கு ‘தட்கல்’ ரெயில் டிக்கெட் முன்பதிவு நேரம் 15–ந் தேதி முதல் மாறுகிறது. மேலும், முதல் 30 நிமிட நேரம் ஏஜெண்டுகளுக்கு தடை விதிக்கப்படுகிறது.

நேரம் மாற்றம்

தற்போது, அனைத்து ரெயில் பெட்டிகளுக்கும் ‘தட்கல்’ முன்பதிவு காலை 10 மணிக்கு தொடங்குகிறது. இந்நிலையில், டிக்கெட் கவுன்ட்டர்களிலும், ஆன்லைனிலும் நெரிசலை தவிர்ப்பதற்காக, முன்பதிவு நேரத்தை மாற்றி அமைக்க ரெயில்வே நிர்வாகம் முடிவு செய்துள்ளது.

அதன்படி, ஏ.சி. பெட்டிகளுக்கு, வழக்கம்போல் காலை 10 மணி முதல் 11 மணிவரை முன்பதிவு நடைபெறும். ஏ.சி. அல்லாத பெட்டிகளுக்கான முன்பதிவு நேரம், காலை 11 மணி முதல் 12 மணிவரை என மாற்றி அமைக்கப்படுகிறது. இந்த மாற்றம் 15–ந்தேதி முதல் அமலுக்கு வருகிறது. இது, டிக்கெட் கவுன்ட்டர், ஐ.ஆர்.சி.டி.சி. இணையதளம் என இரண்டுக்கும் பொருந்தும்.

தடை

அதே சமயத்தில், சாதாரண டிக்கெட் மற்றும் தட்கல் டிக்கெட் முன்பதிவு தொடங்கிய முதல் 30 நிமிட நேரம், ஐ.ஆர்.சி.டி.சி. ஏஜெண்டு உள்பட அனைத்துவகை ஏஜெண்டுகளுக்கும் தடை விதிக்கப்படுகிறது.

அதாவது, சாதாரண டிக்கெட்டுகளை காலை 8 மணி முதல் 8.30 மணிவரையும், தட்கல் டிக்கெட்டுகளை காலை 10 மணி முதல் 10.30 மணிவரையும், காலை 11 மணி முதல் 11.30 மணிவரையும் ஏஜெண்டுகள் எடுக்க முடியாது.

பாதி கட்டணம் வாபஸ்

மேலும், உறுதி செய்யப்பட்ட ‘தட்கல்’ டிக்கெட்டுகளை ரத்து செய்யும் பயணிகளுக்கு பாதி கட்டணத்தை திருப்பித்தர ரெயில்வே நிர்வாகம் முடிவு செய்துள்ளது. தற்போது, இந்த டிக்கெட் பணம் திருப்பித் தரப்படுவது இல்லை என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

நெரிசலான வழித்தடங்களில், ‘தட்கல்’ சிறப்பு ரெயில்கள் விரைவில் அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்படும் என்றும் ரெயில்வே நிர்வாகம் அறிவித்துள்ளது. இந்த ரெயில்களில் கட்டணம் அதிகமாக இருக்கும். இதற்கான முன்பதிவு, பயண தேதிக்கு 60 நாட்களுக்கு முன்பு தொடங்கி, 10 நாட்கள் இருக்கும்போது முடிவடையும்.