Release of Rajiv case convicts unlikely anytime soon

T. RAMAKRISHNAN

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 05, 2018 00:00 IST



Banwarilal Purohit 

Governor may not act till SC decides plea against remission of their sentences

The release of seven persons convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is unlikely in the near future.

Sources in the Raj Bhavan made it clear that Governor Banwarilal Purohit would not act on the State Cabinet’s recommendation to release the convicts till the Supreme Court decided on the petition filed by two relatives of victims, S. Abbas and John Joseph, and four others, challenging the State government’s 2014 decision to remit the sentences of the seven convicts.

Recently, relatives of the victims of the bomb blast that killed Rajiv Gandhi and 15 others at Sriperumbudur in May 1991 met the Governor and urged him to wait for the Supreme Court decision on their petition.

Some of them later claimed that the Governor had agreed to their demand. Enquiries in Raj Bhavan circles said Mr. Purohit saw justification in the demand made by the relatives.

In the middle of last month, the court allowed the petitioners, including Americai V. Narayanan, Congress spokesperson (in his personal capacity), to amend their petition filed in March 2014 and include the Cabinet’s decision, taken on September 9, regarding the release of the convicts. It gave them four weeks to file a revised petition.

The Governor had also met Arputhammal, mother of A.G. Perarivalan, one of the convicts, who urged him to accept the Cabinet’s decision at the earliest.

No consulations yet

In view of the matter pending before the Supreme Court, Mr. Purohit is not having consultations with legal experts for the time being.

Separately, the Raj Bhavan has received an opinion that the Centre should be consulted, even though one view, as expressed by many parties in the State, on Article 161 (Power of Governor to grant pardons and to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases), is that the Governor can go by the advice of his or her Council of Ministers.

Considering the complexity of the matter, the Governor is conscious of the need to examine a range of legal, administrative and constitutional issues before arriving at any decision, the sources explained.

Asked for comment on the approach of the Governor, K. Chandru, former judge of the Madras High Court, said there are two issues that need to be considered in this matter.

“Even if the Cabinet gives an advice, the Governor can ask for a legal opinion to act in accordance with the Constitution. He is not supposed to follow the advice blindly. At the same time, when the Supreme Court is seized of the matter, he cannot take a decision expeditiously on the ground that he would not like to wait for the Supreme Court’s judgement as he has got all powers.”

Wet spell for the next 5 days

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, OCTOBER 05, 2018 00:00 IST


Two weather systems to leave impact; Western Ghats districts to get heavy rain

Wet weather is on the cards for the next five days, with two weather systems prevailing over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

An upper air cyclonic circulation over southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining Sri Lanka is expected to bring moderate rainfall to most parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry till October 7. Chennai is likely to experience intermittent spells of light to moderate rain till Sunday.

Another weather disturbance is likely to develop into a low pressure area over southeast Arabian Sea on Friday and eventually intensify into a cyclone by October 7 and move towards the Oman coast.

‘Red’ alert issued

The India Meteorological Department has issued a ‘red’ alert. Clarifying on the colour-coded warning, S. Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in the Western Ghats and south Tamil Nadu. There are chances of extremely heavy rainfall (above 24.4 cm) in one or two places in southern parts of the State and the Western Ghats region.

It is not an alert for the entire State but a warning intended to get the government to take necessary action, he added.

While the southwest monsoon is still retreating, Wednesday’s rainfall came as precursor to the northeast monsoon that is likely to set in later this month. Most weather stations across the State received moderate rain on Thursday with Kattumannarkoil in Cuddalore district and Pullambadi in Tiruchi district recording the highest of 11 cm in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Thursday. Chennai received nearly 3 cm of rainfall.

On the rumours in social media about two cyclones forming simultaneously and heavy rain in Chennai, Mr. Balachandran said that as of now there was only a possibility of the weather system in the southeast Arabian Sea intensifying into a cyclone. Weather bloggers have also pointed to the possibility of another low pressure area over the southwest Bay of Bengal around October 8.

It is not an alert for the entire State but a warning intended to get the government to take action

S. Balachandran

Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai

Keep gods off answer papers, K’taka varsity tells examinees

Bengaluru 05.10.2018

: Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Karnataka has not taken kindly to students making pleas to gods on answer sheets.

With quite a few examinees writing ‘Om’, a sacred symbol in Hinduism, or the names of gods before attempting to answer questions, the university, in a circular to all affiliated colleges, has called it an examination malpractice.

The first among the eight ‘Don’ts’ mentioned in the October 1 circular issued by registrar (Evaluation) M K Ramesh, is the direction on the mention of the names of gods.

In addition to this, writing one’s name, PTO at the end of a page, irrelevant messages, numbers or sentences, signs, symbols, letter or word and tampering with answer books would also be construed as revealing the identity of the examinee and will be treated as a malpractice, it says.

Sandhya Avadhani, deputy director (pre-exam), at the university said some students try to reveal their identity to the evaluators. PTI

Baisoya’s papers fake, not issued by us: TN varsity

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:05.10.2018

Thiruvalluvar University has written to the Tamil Nadu government confirming the allegations of fake certificate against DUSU president Ankiv Baisoya.

K Murugan, vice-chancellor of Thiruvalluvar University, confirmed the same to TOI on Thursday, saying the letter was sent on Wednesday after the TN government had asked for a response on the matter.

Following the election of ABVP’s Baisoya in September, the Congress-backed NSUI alleged around three weeks ago that the certificates submitted during his admission to the Buddhist studies department were fake. However, DU is yet to make any official statement on the matter.

In the letter to the principal secretary of the TN higher education department, the registrar said an official verification of records had found the certificate to be fake. “I hereby submit that Mr Ankiv Baisoya has not enrolled either in our university or in any of our constituent or affiliated colleges and is not our student at all,” he stated in the letter. “The certificate he has produced is fake and not from our university. The controller of examination has issued a letter stating that the certificate is not genuine after verification of records of the controller of examination office.”

Following the development, NSUI Delhi president Akshay Lakra said, “The letter clearly states that the document submitted by Baisoya was fake. The head of the department, K T S Sarao, is trying to save Baisoya as he is ABVP’s candidate. Even after 15 days of submitting our complaint to DU, they have failed to take any action against him. NSUI is left with no other option but to move court.”

Raising doubts over legality of the letter, ABVP claimed, “There are no stamps on the letter, so we are not sure if the letter is even real.” Its media convener, Monica Chaudhary, said they were waiting for DU to complete its investigation and give its assessment of the case.


VERIFYING CLAIM: Thiruvalluvar University wrote to the Tamil Nadu government after the state authority asked for a response

Rain lashes most regions across state

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 05.10.2018

Widespread rainfall was recorded in most regions in Tamil Nadu on Thursday. According to the meteorological department, Pullambadi in Trichy district recorded the highest rainfall of 110mm rain in the state in the 24 hours ending at 8.30am on Thursday.

Normal life was thrown out of gear due to incessant rain in Salem district on Thursday. All schools remained closed on Thursday. Met department said the district received 23mm rain since Wednesday night until Thursday morning. Neighbouring districts such as Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Namakkal and Erode also received heavy rain.

Madurai saw continuous showers through the day on Thursday. The district recorded a total rainfall of 231mm during the same period. The southern districts also received good showers as rain lashed the suburbs in Tirunelveli, accompanied by heavy winds. Tourists were prevented from bathing in the Courtallum waterfall. Kanyakumari also witnessed rains throughout the day.

The delta region including Thanjavur, Trichy, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur experienced intermittent and widespread rainfall, bringing cheer to farmers. Vedaranyam and Sirkali in Nagapattinam district received 90mm rain each.

Heavy rain likely in Pondy & TN on Oct 7, red alert issued

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:05.10.2018

The India Meteorological Department on Thursday issued a red alert for Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry on October 7 saying, “heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy falls likely to occur at isolated places” due to a cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea.

As per the naming convention of systems in Indian Ocean, the next cyclone will be named Luban by Oman. Incidentally, as per the IMD forecast, a depression is likely to be formed in the Arabian Sea on October 5 and is expected to strengthen into a cyclone and move towards Oman coast.

“Heavy to very heavy rain is likely in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry,” said deputy director general of meteorology S Balachandran. Chennai will experience rainfall with a break now and then. At times heavy rain is also possible in some areas, said Balachandran.

“A low pressure is likely to be formed in the Southeast Arabian sea on Friday and this could intensify into a cyclonic storm. Rain is likely in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the next three days, with the possibility of heavy rainfall in one or two places,” he told reporters. “Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea from October 5-8 over the south Kerala coast, Lakshadweep area, Comorin area, South-East Arabian sea and Central Arabian sea. Those who are in deep sea are advised to return to the coast by October 5,” he said.

An upper air circulation over south-west Bay of Bengal adjoining Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka brought heavy rain to many parts of the state and Puducherry in the last 24 hours ending 8am Thursday. Rain will continue for the next three days. In Tamil Nadu, Kattummannarkoil in Cuddalore district and Kullambady in Trichy district recorded the highest rainfall of 11cm each as of 8am on Thursday.

The state government directed collectors to stay prepared and position rescue teams on the eve of October 7, or ahead if the situation demanded. “The state disaster response force and the trained policemen in coastal and non-coastal districts have been alerted. Inter-departmental teams have been formed across the state,” revenue administration and disaster management and mitigation commissioner K Satyagopal told TOI.

Red alert control room numbers: Kancheepuram control room numbers: 1077, 044-27237107, 27237207; Tambaram control room numbers: 044-22410050; WhatsApp numbers; Kancheepuram: 9445051077; Tambaram: 9445071077.


DARKNESS AT NOON: Gloomy sky during the day coupled with very heavy rainfall reduced visibility in Ariyanoor forcing vehicles taking the Salem-Coimbatore National Highway to turn on their headlights as a precaution

UGC nod for more distance edu courses
Admissions Can Begin From This Yr

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:05.10.2018

In addition to University of Madras and Anna University, Tamil Nadu Open University, Tamil University and SRM Institute of Science and Technology (deemed to be university) have also obtained permission from the the University Grants Commission (UGC) to run distance education programmes.

Following the October 3 decision, students from across the state can register themselves for courses at these universities right from the current academic year.

The UGC had taken a stern view of institutes offering distance education programmes and had granted approval only to three UoM courses, one Anna University course and 38 TNOU courses in its August 2 decision. SRM and Tamil University were not permitted to run a single course. The statutory body cited various shortcomings including inadequate staff and availability of course in the regular mode as reasons for denying permission to the institutions.

After making the required rectifications, the universities appealed to the UGC following which UoM has been allowed to offer 35 courses, Anna University 3, TNOU 82, Tamil University 15 and SRM 5, the UGC order said.

“TNOU has the maximum number of recognised distance education courses in the country,” said vice-chancellor M Bhaskaran. The university, which has begun admission for its distance education programmes, now offers courses such as MBA, MCA, Bachelor of special education and BA (drama and theatre).

UoM will now offer MBA and MCA programmes, BCom and BSc Maths. The list of programmes on offer is available on the university’s website. The last date forsubmission of filled in applications is October 20.

“We will be offering these programmes in the Choice-Based Credit System mode. We have also incorporated the affiliated college syllabus for IDE to enable smoother shifting. We offer video lectures,” said UoM vice-chancellor P Duraisamy. The university had transferred 12 professors from the regular to distance mode to adhere to UGC regulations. The newly-approved 35 programmes alone corner 93% of IDE’s 30,000 yearly enrolment.

SRM has been given permission to offer B.Com, BA (English), BA (Journalism and mass communication), BBA and MA (English). Tamil University will now offer MBA, Master in Library and information science, MA (Bharatnatyam) and MSc Botany.