Change in DoB will make qualifications of person invalid: HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:05.08.2018

The Madras high court has rejected a plea to alter the date of birth of a student in her Class X and XII school certificates on the grounds that her parents gave the wrong date of birth during their child’s admission to Class I.

“If the date of birth is altered, then the entire qualifications possessed by the petitioner would become invalid as she would not have had the required age eligibility to join Class I with the altered date of birth. The court cannot even decide the issue based on sympathy, as it will give a premium for everyone to knock at the doors of the court to alter their dates of birth,” Justice S Vaidyanathan said.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by S Indhumathi. The case of the petitioner is that she was born on July 17, 1997 in Madurai. She claimed that her date of birth in Class X and XII certificates is mentioned as May 17, 1997 instead of July 17.

Though the records with the corporation of Madurai has the original date of birth, the same was incorrectly mentioned in her school records, she said. On April 20, she made a representation to the school education department to modify her date of birth. As the authorities failed to respond, she approached the high court.

When the plea came up for hearing, counsel for the school education department submitted that such corrections cannot be done as per the provisions of Tamil Nadu secondary education certificate rules.

The counsel further submitted that the rules prescribe completion of five years of age for admission to Class I and therefore the petitioner’s parents might have given an incorrect date of birth to secure admission. The judge concurred with the submissions and dismissed the plea.



PAST MISTAKE: The parents of the petitioner gave the wrong date of birth during their child’s admission to Class I

IndiGo to hike salaries of pilots taking fewer PLs

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:05.08.2018

Take fewer than the allowed 56 privilege leaves (PL) annually and earn up to ₹87,000 more per month along with an extra ₹18 lakh over three years! Facing acute shortage of captains, IndiGo has dangled this carrot before its commanders. While a pilot can fly for maximum 1,000 hours in 12 consecutive months, the rostering system and contracts with pilots means airlines rarely hit this figure. IndiGo sources said they get ‘lucky’ by getting a pilot to fly for 900 hours in 12 months straight.

The average monthly salary of an IndiGo captain taking 56 PLs is ₹6,01,250. Those opting for 42 PLs will see a hike of ₹35,000 and those opting for 22 PLs in a year will see their monthly salary rise by ₹86,500.

IndiGo’s senior VP (flight operations) Captain Ashim Mittra sent a mail to his captains on Saturday, informing them about the launch of the “new leave programs with enhanced benefits”. “Those of you who opt to switch to these will benefit from enhanced salary and an additional one-time Incentive of ₹18 lakh. Those who choose to remain on their current leave programs may continue to do so,” Mittra’s mail said.

Man tries to enter AI plane cockpit

Air India’s Milan-Delhi flight of Thursday night had to return to Italy soon after take off as an unruly passenger reportedly tried to enter the cockpit forcibly. An AI spokesman said, “Gurpreet Singh tried to enter the cockpit after take off from Milan. The aircraft landed back in Milan and the passenger was handed over to police.” TNN

Bank penalties cost depositors ₹5,000cr in ’17-18

Mayur.Shetty@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:05.08.2018

Banks collected penalties of close to ₹5,000 crore in 2017-18 from depositors for not maintaining minimum balance in their accounts. The quantum of penalties has gone up despite banks opening 30.8 crore basic savings accounts for those who cannot afford to maintain minimum balance under the Jan Dhan Yojana scheme.

The highest collection is by State Bank of India which raised ₹2,433 crore, nearly half of the total fines. Another 30% of the fines were raised by private lenders Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

SBI is also the reason why penalties doubled in FY18. The bank reintroduced fines in FY18 after not collecting them for several years. However, since April this year, the minimum balance requirements were been eased and so have penalties. This followed a backlash after reports in January that SBI had collected ₹1,700cr in seven months.

As a percentage of penalties to savings accounts, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce have higher averages than SBI. Although banks do not divulge number of savings accounts, the debit cards issued by them (excluding Jan Dhan cards) is an indication of the number of regular savings accounts.

The figures for fines were released in the Lok Sabha by junior finance minister Shiv Pratap Shukla on Friday in response to a query.



Depositors pay large fines if they miss min balance by a few rupees

According to Ashish K Das professor at the department of mathematics in IIT Mumbai, who has authored several reports on bank charges, a key flaw in the conditions imposed by banks is that the fines are not commensurate with the shortfall in deposits. So, depositors end up paying large penalties even when they miss the minimum balance requirement by a few rupees. This is not in keeping with the RBI directive which requires banks to ensure that charges are reasonable and not out of line with the average cost of providing banking services.

Even if SBI’s ₹2,434 crore were to be excluded, there is an increase of ₹400 crore in charges for violating the minimum balance rule since since 2015-16 — the year of demonetization. Although almost half the banks reduced their fines, the increase by other banks has more than made up the reductions. One reasons for this is that public sector banks are trying to increase fee collection to make up for losses due to bad debts. Public sector banks collectively lost ₹85,361 crore due to provisions for non-performing assets in 2017-18.

“In the process, banks are shifting the burden of corporate defaulters to the common man. This will ultimately discourage the common man who will be pushed out of the orbit of banking,” said Devidas Tuljapurkar, joint secretary, All India Bank Employees Association.’ Das in a report ‘Fault Lines in Implementation of Minimum Balance Rule’ highlighted how banks are saving close to ₹50,000 crore paying only 4% on savings account average balances of ₹25.1lakh crore durning 2015-16. They earn additional ₹28,000 crore not paying interest on current account balances of ₹4.3 lakh crore. The report shows how 92% of savings account money is steady in a bank and treated as a core deposit which can be used for long-term loans. Banks justify the higher spread that they earn on savings accounts on the grounds that they need it to cover the operational costs such as ATM networks, account maintenance and other facilities that are provided free of charge.

Two students among 4 booked for hacking computer at MKU

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai: 05.08.2018

Nagamalai Pudukottai police booked two Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) students, who are siblings, their father and a relative on charges of hacking a computer, publishing obscene information in electronic form and threatening a varsity lecturer, here on Saturday.

The siblings who are majoring in fourth year M Tech film and electronics media studies were booked based on a complaint from K Karnamaharajan, their head of the department. They were identified as R John Vimal, 22, R John William, 21, from Nagamalai Pudukottai, their father D Rajkumar, 48, and relative R Jaswanth, 20. They were charged under Section 506 (i) for threatening with dire consequences and under the sections of Information Technology Act, 2000.

Police said Karnamaharajan filed a complaint stating the students hacked his system and published obscene information in electronic form. He alleged that they spread false information depicting him in bad light on social media. Their family members also demanded ₹20 lakh from him However, Vimal denied the charges alleging Karnamaharajan attacked him due to a personal vendetta after a verbal argument broke out between them. He said the lecturer turned vengeful after he questioned him for not reevaluating his answer sheets despite applying for the same.

“The head of the department has failed me in three papers last year deliberately. An application for revaluation has not been accepted yet,” the student said. He had filed a police complaint a couple of weeks ago against Karnamaharajan, but they were yet to take any action, he said.

Another student, seeking anonymity, acknowledged that the department is mired in controversies over the purchase of electronic equipment and the recognition to the ongoing M Tech course.

Industry worried over recruits after cash for marks scandal
Cos Unsure Of Quality Of Staff Taken In From Esteemed Univ

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:05.08.2018

The re-evaluation scam busted in Anna University has opened a can of worms about how tens of thousands of students might have bribed professors to gain additional marks, sometimes converting a fail into a pass grade. This has sparked a worrisome debate among a section of the industry executives in Tamil Nadu, who hire students by the droves from the university and its affiliated colleges.

Second and third-tier affiliated colleges are also worried that the fallout of the scam will hit them hard during placement season.

Industry sources said top CEOs who design products and services for clients in countries like the UK and the US employing graduates from Anna University, are bracing for tough questions they could face regarding their ethics and quality of employees.

This is because, a 60% pass mark is the primary filter for multinational corporations (MNCs) while hiring in bulk from colleges. With the re-evaluation scam showing that even students who have scored in single digits could have bulked their scores to above 70, the marksheet might not reflect the true potential of the candidates.

Across India, there are five main universities that top companies look into for bulk hiring and four of these are in TN. Of them, Anna University is the biggest talent pool. Though top companies have a rigorous training programmes which filter out students without aptitude, executives say students selected based on fudged marks would have eaten into an honest student’s job opportunity. “It is also a waste of time and money spent on the selection process,” an executive said.

“75% of the employees of an Indian company which has taken up a project for a foreign country’s government comprises of Anna University graduates. The company’s CEO is worried,” said an industry executive.

The question on everyone’s mind is for how long the scam has been going on. “It is time to check the system and process at this acclaimed university. It is an opportunity to reclaim and regain the glory,” said K Purushottaman, senior director at Nasscom.

Shashikanth Jayaraman, an HR professional, said that manufacturing industries would not be too worried as they don’t recruit in droves. “Even if a candidate with fudged marks lands a job, he will be found wanting in required skillsets within a short period of time,” he said. Jayaraman added that Tamil Nadu’s image as a good talent pool could take a hit by the scam.

Schoolgirl ‘holds’ umbrella for teachers for more than an hour, collector orders report

A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com

Chennai:05.08.2018

A Class IX girl was forced to hold an umbrella for more than an hour to shield two teachers from the sun when they were monitoring a zonal level khokho competition at the government higher secondary school for boys in Arakkonam on August 1. The issue came to light after a few TV channels telecast the event, following which footage was circulated on social media, including WhatsApp, causing outrage over the harassment.

A senior official in the district collectorate said, “We will react only after getting a detailed statement from the chief educational officer. If we confirm that the student was harassed, we will initiate legal action against the teachers.” Officials refused to divulge the names of the teachers and the student.

A police officer said, “We are yet to receive a complaint on the student being harassed. If we receive any complaint from the student or her parents, we will take action against the teachers.”

Speaking to TOI, Vellore collector S A Raman said, “One of the teachers works at the CSI Central higher secondary (aided) school in Arakkonam, while the other works at the VGN Matriculation higher secondary school in Arakkonam.”

He added that he inquired into the issue through the Arakkonam district education officer. “I have instructed the correspondents of the schools concerned to initiate action against the teachers. I am awaiting a report from the correspondents,” said Raman.



SPOILSPORTS: A Class IX girl shields two teachers during a zonal level kho-kho competition at the government higher secondary school for boys in Arakkonam on August 1

CCB can file FIR though it is not a ‘police station’, rules HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 05.08.2018

Is the Central Crime Branch (CCB) a police station as defined in Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)? Can it register FIR?

Answering this tricky question, the Madras high court has made it clear that special magistrate courts are empowered to direct the CCB to register FIR on complaints, though the CCB is not a police station as defined by the CrPC.

“The jurisdiction of the magistrate for CCB cases extends throughout the metropolitan area. This territorial jurisdiction appears to be co-extensive with the territorial jurisdiction of the CCB. Moreover, when once the magistrate has power to take cognizance on the final report filed by the CCB, they would automatically have power to order investigation,” ruled Justice R Suresh Kumar.

He made the clarification on two separate revision pleas moved by D Ramesh and M Chezhieyan challenging a magistrate court order dated January 25, rejecting Dinesh’s plea to direct CCB to file FIR on his complaint of cheating to the tune of ₹1crore.

Dinesh is into construction business in Chennai. He was allegedly cheated by V Vijayakumar and Thomas Pandian of Tirunelveli of ₹1.10 crore after promising to arrange ₹25 crore as loan for his business. As his repeated attempts to get back his money from the duo failed, Dinesh approached the Chennai police commissioner’s office and preferred a compliant. The same was forwarded to CCB. Refusing to file an FIR on his complaint, CCB suggested him to approach civil court for recovery of money.

Aggrieved Dinesh moved a complaint before the special judicial magistrate for CCB cases seeking to direct the CCB to file an FIR.

But the magistrate rejected the complaint on the ground that the magistrate can direct investigation under Section 156(3) of the CrPC only to an officer in-charge of a police station that falls within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.

Neither the office of commissioner of police which is in-charge of CCB nor any officer of CCB would be deemed to be officer incharge of a police station, the magistrate ruled. Refusing to concur with the findings of the magistrate, Justice Suresh Kumar made the present clarification.