Over 100 professors apply for Anna University VC post 

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | A RAGU RAMAN

Published Feb 5, 2018, 2:03 am IST

The Anna University's V-C post is lying vacant for more than 20 months now following the completion of M. Rajaram’s tenure on May 26, 2016 


Anna University V-C search panel has retired IAS officer N.Sundaradevan as state government’s nominee and IIT Madras Professor R.Gnanamoorthy as the syndicate nominee in the panel.

CHENNAI: The Anna University Vice-Chancellor search panel headed by Justice V.S.Sirpurkar has received over 100 applications from professors for the top post in the technical university, according to sources. The last date for submitting applications for V-C post was February 1.

The search panel is likely to scrutinise the applications in the coming weeks. The committee will look into whether the applicants have required minimum qualification prescribed in the notification.

“The selection process will be transparent like in the cases of Bharathidasan and Periyar universities. Other details like how the candidates will be shortlisted will be decided at the next meeting of the search panel”, sources close to the panel said. Anna University V-C search panel has retired IAS officer N.Sundaradevan as state government’s nominee and IIT Madras Professor R.Gnanamoorthy as the syndicate nominee in the panel.

As in the cases of Bharathidasan and Periyar Universities, Anna University V-C search panel is also likely to release the list of applicants on the university’s website. The search panels of these two varsities had released the list of applicants on the website. Later, they interviewed ten shortlisted candidates before forwarding three names to the Governor.

While reacting to the arrest of Bharathiar University Vice-Chancellor A.Ganapathy who was caught red-handed while taking the bribe on Saturday, educationists pointed out that the corruption in V-C appointment was the root cause of the problem. They further alleged that all the universities including Anna University and Madras University have appointed the teaching and non-teaching staff by taking money during the tenures of previous Vice-Chancellors. So the selection process of Vice-Chancellor of Anna University will be watched with greater interest.

The Anna University's V-C post is lying vacant for more than 20 months now following the completion of M.Rajaram's tenure on May 26, 2016. The then Governor CH Vidhyasagar Rao has rejected all three names shortlisted by the earlier search panel after personally interviewing all them in May last year. Then he nominated former Chief Justice of India R.M.Lodha as Governor's nominee to the new search panel.

But, Justice Lodha resigned as the chairman of the search panel following litigation alleging violations of norms against the appointment of search panel member K. Anantha Padmanabhan.

Following the resignations of both Justice R.M. Lodha and K.Anantha Padmanabhan, the search committee was dissolved and new search committee headed by Justice V.S.Sirpurkar was formed.

Chennai: Bank told to pay Rs 1.70 lakh for jewelries missing from locker 

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published Feb 5, 2018, 2:54 am IST

She kept the jewellery in the locker and would occasionally take it from the locker for festival for important functions. 


In the petition, Lakshmi Jayaraman of R.A. Puram submitted that she was having a locker facility at the Indian Bank branch on Eldams Road from November 2005.

Chennai: The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, Chennai (South) has directed a nationalised bank to pay a compensation of Rs 1.70 lakh to a woman for missing 7.29 kgs of silver jewellery from a locker maintained in the bank in the city.

In the petition, Lakshmi Jayaraman of R.A. Puram submitted that she was having a locker facility at the Indian Bank branch on Eldams Road from November 2005.

As her daughter and son-in-law live abroad, she kept the jewellery in the locker and would occasionally take it from the locker for festival for important functions.

In view of Deepavali festival, she went to the bank for taking some silver items on October 19, 2006 and she found a lot of silver articles were missing from one of her lockers. However, all the jewellery kept in another locker remains safe and intact.

She said, “I was in a state of severe shock and did not know how to handle the issue.”

She lodged a complaint with the Chief Manager about missing articles. However, the Chief Manager refused to believe her and after persuasion, the officials accepted the complainant. She noted that articles weighing 7.29 kgs were missing.

The bank officials sent a reply stating that they were unable to accept any claim for the loss of contents in the locker.

In the petition, she said that the action of the bank officials, amounts to deficiency in service, which caused her mental agony and hardship. Hence, she sought direction to the Chief Manager and CMD of Indian Bank to pay a compensation of `2.50 lakh towards missing jewellery, for causing mental agony and for deficiency in service.

In its reply, Indian Bank denied the allegation. They said they sent her detailed a reply on November 9, 2006, stating that the locker was operated only by her.

Therefore, the contents of the locker were known only to her and she keeps the keys of the locker. The bank shall not accept any claim for the alleged loss. The bank had not committed any negligence or deficiency in service.

The bench comprising President M. Mony, members K. Amala and Dr T. Paul Rajasekaran, said considering the facts and circumstances, this forum is of the considered view that Chief Manager and CMD are jointly and severally liable to pay a sum of `1.50 lakh towards the value of silver jewellery and a compensation of `15,000 for causing her mental agony and cost of `.5,000.

Aadhaar link’ to end corrupt practices in building certificates: Madras High Court

By Express News Service  |   Published: 04th February 2018 02:13 AM  |  

Madras High Court (File | PTI)

CHENNAI: Observing that unless a liability is fixed on the government servants, it will be very difficult to curtail encroachments and unauthorised constructions, the Madras High Court has directed the authorities issuing building completion certificates to furnish a copy of their Aadhaar cards or any other valid identity card with the certificate so that they cannot escape from the clutches of law, in case they issue the certificates in violation of the sanctioned plan.

A division bench of Justices M Venugopal and S Vaidyanathan passed the order on a plea moved by Kiran Bai of Coimbatore to remove an illegal construction being put on the TVS Road, RS Puram, Coimbatore.
“It is disheartening to note that many buildings, including individual houses, apartments, and commercial complexes are constructed in violation of the sanctioned plan, without leaving proper setback and in several cases, knowing well that it is a public road and park, constructions are made.

The fact remains that only the owner of the building is at loss, when a building, which is not constructed in accordance with the plan, is ordered to be demolished, and the authorities, who issue completion certificate to such buildings, make hay while the sun shines. It is in collusion with the officials that these buildings are raised and on complaint, this court directs them to be razed. This court is of the view that unless a liability is fixed on the government servants, it will be very difficult to curtail encroachments,” the bench said.

To safeguard the interest of the public at large, the court issued a series of directions to be followed by the authorities issuing completion certificates, including producing a copy of their identity proof. The court also made it clear that no interim order or final order shall be passed by the subordinate courts in any petition, without ascertaining the fact from the local authorities concerned.

Insurance firm told to pay `50k cost

Chennai: The Madras High Court has imposed a cost of `50,000 on the Anna Salai branch of the United India Insurance Company for not reimbursing the medical bill incurred by a 72 year-old man, despite appropriate approvals. Justice T Raja imposed the cost on January 18 while allowing a writ petition from K P Ramalingam, who prayed for a directive to reimburse his medical bill amount under the pensioners New Health Insurance Scheme for `1.44 lakh with accrued interest at 9 per cent per annum in pursuance to his earlier representations.

The amount shall be paid to the petitioner along with the reimbursement amount of `1,43,709, within four weeks, the judge said. At this juncture, the insurance firm counsel requested the judge not to impose the cost as it would demoralise the name of his client company. The judge said that he is not inclined to accept the submission, for, if the cost is not imposed, the same would amount to justification of the wrong done by the firm.

Metro Water told to remove bushes

Chennai: The Madras High Court has directed the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWS&SB) to remove the unwanted trees and bushes on the Thiru-Vi-Ka bridge connecting Adyar with RA Puram, within two months.

The bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose gave the directive while disposing of a PIL petition from advocate  N Elumalai on January 17. It is the case of the petitioner that water pipelines are running on the bridge, which has not been properly maintained due to which many unwanted trees and bushes have grown, causing danger to the pipes.

The attention of the bench was drawn to a letter from the Executive Engineer, Greater Chennai Corporation to the chief engineer (O&M) of the CMWS&SB, wherein it is stated that the trees and bushes are posing a danger to the life of the bridge and if their growth is not removed, the bridge will get weakened and in the event of the bridge collapsing, the water pipelines will also get damaged.

PWD told to regularise 47 contract workers

Chennai: The State PWD has been directed to regularise services of 47 contract workers, who had put in more than 10 years service as in 2006. Justice T Raja gave the directive while allowing a batch of writ petitions from E Kemburaji and others.

The petitioners were engaged on contract basis for supply of 6.5 million gallons of water to be used for power production at the Kalpakkam Atomic Energy station as their lands were to be used for extraction of water. After listening to the submissions of the counsel for petitioner and authorities and after perusing records, the judge found that the GO dated June 27, 2013, was unconstitutional and it only sought to introduce a naked discrimination in the matter of treatment of identically placed employees.

Refusal to prevent use of earthmovers

Chennai: The HC has refused to restrain the authorities concerned in Villupuram district from deploying earthmovers for strengthening works of Karumanthangal tank in Kannalam. There does not appear to be any specific bar in law on deploying earthmovers for carrying on the work of improvement of a tank. In any case, this court, exercising its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, does not sit in appeal over every administrative decision of the authorities. 

In the absence of any patent illegality in the decision-making process, the court does not intervene, the first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose said. The bench dismissed on January 17 last a PIL petition from V Kanniappan, a local agriculturist who opposed the use of earthmovers, saying that they had badly affected the job opportunities of the poor agriculturists.

‘Repair school near Villupuram’

Chennai: The first bench of the HC has directed the authorities to carry out repair works at a government middle school in Semmedu within two months. The bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose gave the directive on January 17 last while disposing of a writ petition from the Thiruvalluvar Educational and Service Trust, by its authorised signatory P Arivoli praying for a direction to act on his representation dated December 11, 2017 for demolition and re-construction of the compound wall and building. According to the petitioner, the building was posing a serious threat to students. The bench observed that there can be no doubt schools should be maintained in a safe water-proof and wind-tight condition. School buildings ought not to be left in such a condition as they pose a risk to the students, who attend the classes.

Criterion changed for generating merit list of candidates who appeared in NEET- PG

By Express News Service | Published: 02nd February 2018 09:18 PM |



NEW DELHI: The National Board of Examination has decided to make MBBS marks as a criterion for tie breaking of candidates and publishing a final merit list for National Entrance and Eligibility Test-PG days after it published the results.

About 1.3 lakh MBBS doctors had appeared in NEET-PG, 2017 to compete for getting PG seats in medical colleges across India in the academic session 2018-19 and the their results were put out on January 23.

A statement released by the NBE, under the Union ministry of health and family welfare said that in the results, the board has provided the marks obtained by each candidate but tie-breaking of candidates having same marks and same number of correct responses in NEET-PG 2018 shall be done on the basis of marks obtained in the MBBS professional exams.

"This is unlike previous NEET-PG and All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination where only date of birth was utilized as a tie-breaking criteria. Due to candidates making incorrect MBBS marks entries in the online application form and in order to ensure that the tie-breaking is accurate, NBE has given a onetime final opportunity to all the applicant candidates to make corrections in their MBBS marks through the online portal and submit their scanned MBBS professional mark sheets as a proof of the same for the purpose of verification by NBE," the statement read.

The board also said that it has received complaints that tout or agents are alluring and misleading the candidates to help them in securing a good merit position or marks in lieu of money.

"NBE has taken this very seriously and has filed a complaint with the cyber cell and crime branch of Delhi Police. Candidates are cautioned not to be misled by any such false and bogus claims," the board clarified.

Group of students to challenge government's decision to fix upper age limit for NEET in Supreme Court

By Sumi Sukanya dutta  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 05th February 2018 06:57 PM  |  

 

File Photo of Supreme Court of India. | Express Photo Service

NEW DELHI: A group of aspiring medical professional are moving to challenge a government decision to fix an upper age limit for appearing in the National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (NEET) in the Supreme Court.

In a gazette notification published on January 22, the Union ministry of health and family welfare has amended the “Regulation of graduate medical education, 1997” and has fixed an upper age limit of 25 years for general and 30 years for reserved category students- who wish to take NEET.

NEET is the entrance test for MBBS, BDS and AYUSH courses across India and the decision will mean that thousands of students above 25 will lose their chance to attempt studying medicine.
“This is gross injustice and against our rights of education and equal opportunity,” said 27-year-old Kartikeya Rai, a NEET aspirant from Varanasi who has been preparing for the examination from last year.

He said he had missed out on studies completely for a few years as he was pursuing sports professionally before he decided to give NEET a shot this year.

A 27-year-old computer science engineer working with an IT giant in Bengaluru is another petitioner in the case. “It was my childhood dream to be a doctor but because of some family issues I studied engineering earlier and now want to pursue medicine. Why is the government shutting doors on us just because of age,” she said.
The government, last year too, had moved to fix the upper age limit but the Supreme Court had given interim relief to students beyond the limit on the grounds that “proper rules were not followed in fixing the eligibility criteria for the NEET.”

“Earlier during pre-NEET times, there was no upper age limit for students in state quotas or state pre-medical tests. The rule being imposed by the Central government now is very unfair for many students who come from diverse socio-economic backgrounds,” said Amit Gupta, a teacher in Kota who is spearheading a campaign to challenge the decision in the apex court.

“Many states have decided to even take physiotherapy and nursing institutes based on NEET scores—so it means that students above 25 with Biology background will have absolutely no option to choose a career in the field of medicine. Is it even constitutional?” he asked. “The government should limit the number of attempts instead of putting an age bar.”

MCI, however, defended the decision saying that the move was aimed at wastage of “precious medical seats.”

“Statistics show that dropout rate is higher among older students as they cannot cope with the rigour that MBBS and other courses in the field demand. This leads of the seats getting wasted,” said CV Birmanandham, vice-president of the MCI.

CBSE’s uniform assessment policy for Classes VI to VIII withdrawn 

TIMES OF INDIA
04.02.2018
New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has withdrawn its policy of uniform assessment for Classes VI to VIII, following objections from child rights’ body, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

According to the notification released, the CBSE has stated that “As per the decision of the governing body of the board, the earlier circular regarding the uniform system of assessment, examination and report card for Classes VI to VIII stands repealed.” The NCPCR argued that the evaluation policy was in violation of the Right to Education Act (RTE).

The earlier circular had stated that “to increase the confidence in the students to start preparing for Class X board examination when they join the upper primary stage in Class VI, the CBSE has decided to implement the uniform system of assessment, examination pattern and issue of report cards for Classes VI to VIII also on the similar pattern.”

As per the earlier system, the assessment and examination structure for Classes VI to VIII will now comprise two terms, each consisting of 100 marks per subject. The system of continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) for Class X has also been done away with after the central government decided to reintroduce board examination for the class from this year. TNN

Only analog watches allowed in ICSE exams

The Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has barred Class X and XII board examinees from wearing smart and digital watches and has decreed that they can wear only analog wristwatches to the exam hall. The council does not let students use calculators in Class X exams, but allows its use in the Class XII boards. But in the ISC exams, students can use calculators of only one particular make. The council now wants to preclude any chance of students taking advantage of technology to cheat their way through exams. TNN

CHETTINAD VIDYASHRAM