Make proper arrangements for Thaipoosa Jyothi Dharisanam, directs HC

TNN | Jan 26, 2018, 00:03 IST

Chennai: The Madras high court on Friday directed the Hindu religious and charitable endowments department to make all necessary arrangements including, security measures, for the Thanipoosa Jyothi Dharisanam in Vadalur, scheduled to take place on January 31. 

The first bench headed by Chief Justice Indira Banerjee passed the order on a suo motu plea initiated based on a letter addressed to the court by D Selvakumar, a resident of Nagapattinam, seeking court's intervention to provide appropriate facilities during the function.

When the plea came up for hearing, the department submitted that all basic amenities would be provided and already measures have been taken to install 500 toilets and bathrooms for devotees who will be visiting the temple for the function.

"All arrangements, including temporary rooms for changing of clothes for the women, have been made. This apart, on January 27, a special meeting is also scheduled to be held headed by the Cuddalore district collector, to review the arrangements made for the function," the department said.

Madras HC reserves verdict on gutka scam

TNN | Updated: Jan 26, 2018, 07:47 IST



 

 CHENNAI: The way the Tamil Nadu government is opposing a simple PIL for CBI probe into the alleged gutka scam it is prompting the court to go deeper into the issue, noted the first bench of the Madras high court on Thursday. 

"Why such a strong resistance? When there are different agencies, and other states are involved, why cannot the CBI handle the case and the state provide assistance to them?" the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose asked.

After a four-hour argument by the state, the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC), food safety department and the petitioner J Anbazhagan of DMK, the bench reserved its order, asking all parties to file written arguments by January 30.

Earlier, advocate general Vijay Narayan said the case being predominately against state government officials, it should be probed by DVAC, with cooperation from the CBI, and not vice versa. Moreover, the DVAC probe is in the final stages, he said. Additional advocate-general P H Aravind Pandian for the DVAC submitted that the petitioner J Anbazhagan had not filed the PIL in his private capacity, but as a member and legislator of DMK, with political motive.

"The crux of the contention of the petitioner is that when the DGP who is the head of the state police force is arrayed as an accused, the probe conducted by DVAC cannot be fair. But the fact is that the officials of DVAC does not report to the DGP or any other police official for that matter. The official of DVAC though drawn from the police force, they fall under public administration department and report to its secretary," Pandian said.

P Wilson, senior counsel for the petitioner, said: "Even the FIR was registered after the issue was highlighted in the state assembly by the opposition. When such was the situation, how can we accept that DVAC would conduct a fair probe? Moreover, finding holes in the probe conducted by the DVAC is not the issue at all. Inflicting confidence in the people's mind that a fair and transparent probe would be conducted is the need of the hour," Wilson added.

CBSE: Same sets of question papers for all NEET  examinees

Amit Anand Choudhary | TNN | Jan 26, 2018, 05:00 IST




NEW DELHI: The current practice of preparing different sets of question papers for students taking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in regional languages is set to go with the CBSE telling the Supreme Court on Thursday that from this year only one question paper will be set, and that it will be translated into different languages. 

The decision was taken after the board found itself in a fix following allegations that the question papers in regional languages for NEET 2017 were more difficult than the English and Hindi papers and a bunch of petitions was filed in the apex court by students seeking quashing of the exam. The students also alleged that some questions in regional languages were wrong and hampered their chances in the entrance test.

The CBSE, which conducts the medical entrance test, was forced to take the decision after the SC termed the practice illogical as there would be no uniformity in the entrance examination and students would be asked different questions.

Different sets of questions illogical: Court

Appearing before a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and S Abdul Nazeer, CBSE's counsel, Tara Chandra Sharma, told the court that only one question paper would be set for all students and those who opted for vernacular languages would be provided translated question papers in their preferred medium.

Students are allowed to take the exam in 10 languages. The SC had earlier said there would no uniformity in the entrance examination if students were provided different question papers. It had asked the CBSE to get the same question paper translated into different languages.

"It is an illogical practice. How will you evaluate the competence of students when their questions are different? There is no reason for setting different question papers. There must be the same question paper for all students who take the exam in Hindi, English or other language," the court had said.

The board had contended that if the level of difficulty of all papers was the same, then it served the purpose of uniformity in the examination process and there was nothing wrong in having multiple papers. But the court was not convinced and asked it to do away with the practice.

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GOD WILL NEVER BE PARTIAL IN BLESSING PEOPLE HC

First government-run tissue bank opens 

₹1.5Cr Facility To Be Ready In 1 Month

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The state’s first government-run tissue bank, inaugurated at Kilpauk medical college hospital on Wednesday, will soon be a salve for burns and trauma patients.

The ₹1.5-crore facility will be functional in a month’s time as officials rev up the campaign for donation. The unit will initially serve as a skin bank and then expand to other tissues. “We will converge the skin donation campaign with eye donation,” said health minister C Vijayabaskar, who, along with officials from National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, inaugurated the repository.

Dr S Raja Sabapathy, chairman of plastic surgery, hand and microsurgery department, Ganga Hospital in Coimbatore, said since 2011, its facility had received 133 donations. “We still need a lot more,” he said. The health department said two such banks will be set up in Madurai and Tirunelveli. 

3 forge docus of land valued at ₹1.5cr, held

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The anti-land grabbing wing of the city police arrested three people for forging the documents of a property at Pallikaranai worth more than ₹1.5 crore.

The owner C Chidambaram, 75, a resident of Alapakkam, discovered that the land measuring 3,352 sqft was in another person’s name when he visited the sub-registrar office in Velachery. Later, he came to know that the property was sold to a businessman M Periyasamy using forged documents.

Chidambaram approached Chennai city police commissioner A K Viswanathan and lodged a complaint seeking legal action against the encroachers and recovery of his land. The petition was forwarded to the anti-land grabbing wing of the Chennai city police which probed the issue.

Police summoned Periyasamy, 39, of Virugambakkam, A Vigneshwaran, 28, of Thiruvottiyur and V Rajeswaran, 35, of Tondiarpet. During inquiries, they admitted to having committed the crime using fake documents.

Police registered a case against the trio who were remanded in judicial custody after being produced before a magistrate court in Allikulam. Police are searching for more suspects.