HC issues guidelines for transfer of state govt school teachers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

14.03.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has criticized the state school education department for irregular transfers of teachers on administrative grounds and issued a set of guidelines to be adopted by the department for transfer counselling.

The court made the statement after taking note of a submission by the school education department. Of the 1,181 transfers of government school teachers in 2018 on ‘administrative grounds’, several were on the basis of requests made by teachers indicating schools of their choice, the department had said.

Among the new set of guidelines, the court held that teachers who were not given transfer during the general transfer counselling should not be given transfers on administrative ground during the relevant academic year.

According to the detailed guidelines, the applicant must have worked for a minimum of one year in the present school to be eligible for general transfer. However, no such norms were framed for transfers on administrative ground.

The guidelines are in response to a petition which claimed irregularities in the transfer of teachers and sought a probe by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) into alleged irregularities in transfer and postings. After perusing the submissions made by the petitioner, K K Ramesh, and that of the state, a division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice P D Audikesavalu held that though records show irregular transfers made on administrative ground, there are no material before the court to prove the motive or to substantiate the ground taken by the petitioner that such transfers were made for “other reasons” and hence, a DVAC probe cannot be suggested.

“The annual transfers including the vacancies due to promotion/upgrading of schools must only be on the basis of general counselling,” the bench said. It then directed the department to issue the GO for general counselling sufficiently in advance.

The education secretary has been directed to ensure authenticity of the lists of vacancies and of transfers made pursuant to general counselling and to publish the same on the website without delay, the court said. “In order to fill subsequent vacancies, including those due to voluntary retirement, death, resignation, promotion and upgradation of schools, there should be at least two counselling sessions, preferably one in August and another in September, after the general counselling in June,” the court said. It also held that the clause allowing administrative transfer should not be invoked for transfers to fill vacancies as a result of promotions or upgrading of schools.

To fill subsequent vacancies... there should be at least two counselling sessions, preferably in August and in September, after the general counselling in June

Madurai bench

Fares set to fly high as aircraft grounded after Ethiopian crash

Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.03.2019

Domestic airfares are set to go up as SpiceJet grounds its B737 Max 8 planes following a DGCA directive after the Ethiopian air crash. Around 14 flights have been cancelled as the aircraft model is being taken off service by Wednesday.

This means that between SpiceJet and Jet Airways, around 50 flights will not be operating. This will lead to capacity reduction on many routes resulting in hike in air fare in the coming weeks, feel airlines and travel agents. The increase in prices will hit families travelling during summer holidays.

SpiceJet in a statement said: “SpiceJet is rationalizing and optimizing the use of its Boeing 737 NG and Bombardier Q400 aircraft to address the current situation and minimize inconvenience to its passengers. We are evaluating options for augmenting capacity through additional flights and aircraft induction. We are sure our operations will be normal soon.”

Complying with the DGCA directive, SpiceJet has grounded its entire B737 Max fleet, while most of the B737 Max 8 aircraft of Jet Airways are grounded because the airline has to pay the lessors.

Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C) Yatra.com said, “At least 50 planes are out of action or grounded on the domestic front due to multiple reasons. That is a significant reduction in domestic airline capacity. The additional capacity coming in is not likely to cover this in the short term, while demand is going to be robust over the next few months because of the school holidays and surging leisure travel. The shortage of planes and high seat occupancies are expected to push airfares north in the short term.” Dhall said airfares were at least15% higher this year when compared to last year. A comparison of fare for March 14 in 2019 and the previous year, shows prices went up from Rs4,655 to Rs8,762 because of capacity reduction on the Chennai-Delhi route. On Mumbai-Chennai route the fare has increased from ₹5,671 to ₹20,329.

Aloke Bajpai, CEO and cofounder, ixigo, said: “Post the DGCA announcement, 34 international flights to Mumbai and 12 flights bound for Delhi were cancelled. Grounding of additional planes will further impact fares which were already high this season.” He said a majority of affected passengers have been accommodated by SpiceJet on alternate flights. “Additionally, the airline is also offering passengers the option of a refund, change of flight or date or destination (to nearest alternate airport), without any cancellation charges or fare difference.”

‘Form committee to monitor govt docs’ attendance’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.03.2019

The Madras high court has directed the government to constitute a monitoring committee to supervise the attendance and assess the performance of government doctors and maintenance of government medical hospitals across the state.

Justice SM Subramaniam has also directed the government to recover adequate compensation from government doctors who violate terms of service, including the lock-in periods, after completing postgraduation under government quota.

The judge passed the order while dismissing a plea moved by Dr Silamban, a government doctor, who had been absenting from service for the past seven-and-a-halfyears without authorization. The petitioner who joined the service through TNPSC in 1993, later completed his diploma in anaesthesiology as a service candidate with stipend.

“Government doctors are gaining rich experiences at the cost of public money and even through public themselves, who all are attending government hospitals. Poor men are being used as guinea pig for learning. Poor man’s body is dissected and provided for learning. Government resources and life of poor men are at the mercy of government doctors. If no adequate measures are taken to monitor the quality of treatment and performances undertaken, the state is failing in its duty to uphold the right to life ensured to the citizen under the Constitution,” Justice Subramaniam said.

Apart from corrupt practices at government hospitals, it is painful to pen down that doctors themselves are irregular in attending duty, resulting in death of patients, who all are not in a position to afford quality treatment from corporate hospitals, the judge added.

Noting that the situation results in denial of social justice and equal treatment, the court said, economic condition of a citizen cannot be a ground for denial of quality treatment. Thus, the government is duty-bound to ensure cleanliness, availability of doctors, including speciality treatment, paramedical staff, supporting staff, which all are imminent and a constitutional mandate.

Adding that frequent complaints are noticed across the state that government doctors are developing their private practice by neglecting public duty, Justice Subramaniam said, “It is a misconduct both under the service rules as well as MCI regulations. Thus, adequate steps are highly warranted.”

The court asked the government to recover adequate compensation from those who violate service terms

Supreme Court urges BCI to reconsider rule mandating age limit for law courses

Aditya AK March 12 2019  

The Supreme Court today passed an order asking the Bar Council of India (BCI) to reconsider its rule mandating an upper age limit for admission to law courses.

After hearing the matter today, the Bench of Justices SA Bobde and Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed that there is no age to acquire education. Justice Kaul observed that since children from economically weaker sections of society may not have a linear education, they would be disadvantaged by the age limit rule.

The order passed by the Bench urges the BCI to reconsider Clause 28 of the Rules on Standards of Legal Education.

“We consider it appropriate in the interest of justice to permit the Bar Council of India to reconsider the age limit after hearing the various stakeholders, including the petitioner.”

The direction was made in a petition filed in 2016 by two aspiring law students, Rishabh Duggal and Rishabh Arora. They had challenged the BCI’s age limit rule as being unconstitutional and ultra vires various provisions of the Advocates Act, 1961.

In 2008, the BCI had introduced the Rules on Standards of Legal Education framed under the Advocates Act of 1961. Clause 28 in the Schedule III of the Rules sought to impose an age cap for prospective law students. The maximum age limit for joining the Bachelor’s law course was set at twenty years for general category students and twenty-two for SC/ST/OBC students. Similarly, for the post-graduate course, the limit was thirty years for general category and thirty-five for reserved categories.

After a slew of petitions in different high courts challenging Clause 28, the BCI formed a one-man committee of advocate S Prabhakaran to peruse the validity of the provision. The same committee found that the clause fell afoul of Article 14 of the Constitution and recommended its deletion. Subsequently, the BCI passed a notification on September 28, 2013, withdrawing Clause 28.

This matter was then exhumed by B Ashok, an advocate of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. In his writ petition, he prayed that the BCI notification withdrawing Clause 28 be quashed as it was in contravention of the amendment procedure under the Advocates Act. A Division Bench of the High Court allowed the petition.

The BCI then challenged the decision before the Supreme Court of India; however, a Bench of JS Khehar and Rohinton Fali Nariman JJ. upheld the Madras High Court verdict in December 2015. In effect, the clause stood valid.

Subsequently, the High Courts of Bombay and Punjab & Haryana had struck down the rule, citing the legislative incompetence of the BCI to introduce such a rule.

Despite this, the rule still stood. However, as the petition notes, several high courts have allowed petitioners who had crossed the age limit to appear for entrance exams including the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT).

Attempts have been made in previous editions of CLAT – for instance, the 2017 edition – to impose the age limit prescribed by Clause 28.

In March 2017, while hearing this petition, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of Clause 28.

And now, the Supreme Court has directed the BCI to reconsider the rule.

Advocate Zoheb Hossain appeared for the petitioners.

The matter is listed for the first week of April.

Pollachi Sexual Abuse Case

What is the Pollachi sexual abuse and extortion case: A detailed explainer

 Ragamalika Karthikeyan

• Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 18:20

 The Pollachi case has taken TN – and the rest of India – by shock. TNM has put together all the verified information that is available so far.

On February 12 this year, Priya (name changed), a 19-year-old college student in Pollachi, was called by her acquaintance, Sabarirajan, who told her that he wanted to discuss something important with her alone. Sabarirajan, who also goes by the name Riswandh, asked Priya to meet him at a bus stop in Pollachi, and when Priya reached there in the afternoon, Sabarirajan was standing near a car along with his friend Thirunavukkarasu, another acquaintance of Priya. The duo asked her to get into the car with them, and said they would talk on the way. While Thirunavukkarasu started the car, Sabarirajan was sitting in the back seat with Priya. And suddenly, two more men – Sathish and Vasanthkumar – got in. The four of them forcefully disrobed Priya and shot a video, and snatched a gold chain she was wearing. They threatened her that if she did not do as they said, and provide them with sexual favours and money when they demanded it, they would upload the video on the internet. When she screamed and cried, they left her in the middle of the road and drove away.

Upset and scared, Priya did not reveal the incident to her family. But when the men blackmailed her and tried to extort money from her multiple times, Priya decided to take her family into confidence.

Her brother Subhash (name changed) then tracked down Thirunavukkarasu and Sabarirajan, beat them up, and unearthed what is perhaps an elaborate and scary sexual violence and extortion racket. Subhash and his friends got hold of Thirunavukkarasu and Sabarirajan’s cell phones, which contained videos of at least three other women that the men may have blackmailed. The family submitted this to the Pollachi police, along with a complaint of sexual harassment and robbery.

The police have filed an FIR on February 24 against Sabarirajan, Thirunavukkarasu, Sathish and Vasanthkumar under sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of criminal force against woman with intent to disrobe), and 392 (robbery) of the IPC; section 66E of the IT Act (violation of privacy); and section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Women Act (sexual harassment).

The rape and extortion racket

Priya’s ordeal and the phones collected from the four accused has revealed a massive racket run by the four men, and allegedly several other men – and the police is looking into who the perpetrators of these crimes are. They have asked other victims to come forward with their experiences with these men.

TNM has learned some details of the modus operandi of these men was. One of them – usually Sabarirajan alias Riswandh – would lure women to a secluded house or hotel, and either force himself on them or convince them to have sex.

All the while, his accomplices – hidden from view – would shoot the act on a camera.

If it was a sexual assault, one of the accomplices would barge in and pretend to be a saviour, while the other men continued to shoot the video. At least one such video of a young woman who was sexually assaulted by Riswandh (alias Sabarirajan) has been released by a Tamil magazine. TNM will not share the video, or other videos that are circulating.

In the videos that the men have shot, the young women can be heard naming Riswandh (alias Sabarirajan) multiple times. In one of these videos, Thirunavukkarasu can be clearly seen.

Thirunavukkarasu

In another video, Sathish can be seen in a sexual act, and he has left the door open for his friends to shoot the act.

In another video, Riswandh shoots a woman and continuously asks her whether she would meet him the next day. The police say such videos were used to blackmail for money or sexual favours.

If the sex was consensual, the men would threaten to upload the videos on the internet or circulate them through WhatsApp, unless the women gave them sexual favours, along with money and other valuables. In all the videos, it is clear that the door of the room was kept open so other members of the gang could take pictures and shoot videos.

How many victims?

The lawyer of the survivor told TNM that they have recovered three videos from the cell phones they seized from two of the men. While there are media reports and estimates that there are anywhere between 50 and 200 victims of this racket, there is no confirmation of any such number so far. However, at least six women are there in the videos that have leaked now, only Forensic department can recover the rest.

In an audio message that one of the accused Thirunavukkarasu released, he says that a false case has been foisted on him – but also suggests that ‘99 other women’ were willing participants.

The case of assault of victim’s brother

Priya and her family filed a complaint and the police registered an FIR on February 24, 2019. On February 25, Subhash was assaulted by four men – allegedly friends of Thirunavukkarasu and Sabarirajan. Senthil, Babu, Mani and Vasanthkumar beat up Subhash for filing a complaint against Thirunavukkarasu, and allegedly threatened that if anything were to happen to these men, Subhash will not be alive.

An FIR was registered by the Pollachi police in this case, under section 341, 294(b), 323, 324, and 506(2) of the IPC.

The Pollachi police added the name of a fifth person – ‘Bar’ Nagaraj, an AIADMK functionary who has now been expelled by the party – in the FIR.

All five men are now out on bail.

Who are the four accused

Sabarirajan alias Riswandh is a 25-year-old civil engineer in Pollachi. Thirunavukkarasu is a 26-year-old financier. Vasanthakumar works for Thirunavukkarasu to collect money from clients. Sathish is the owner of a readymade garments shop in Pollachi.

Politics over sexual violence

While the case was registered in late February, and TNM reported about the arrests on February 27, the incident has become politicised in the last few days.

The AIADMK has been criticised for the alleged involvement of Nagaraj in the saga, with some media reports suggesting that the rot runs higher up in the party. Tamil Magazine Nakkheeran’s editor Nakkheeran Gopal, in a video, alleged the involvement of Tamil Nadu Deputy Speaker Pollachi Jayaraman’s sons in the sexual abuse and extortion racket. However, Nakkheeran has not given any evidence of their involvement, or how they are allegedly linked to the accused in the case.

While Jayaraman himself has denied allegations, the survivor, Priya, and her brother Subhash have released statements where they said that it was Jayaraman who in fact has supported them from the beginning. In an audio statement, Priya said that her family approached Jayaraman through a family friend, and he has been helpful with filing the complaint and taking the case forward.

Subhash meanwhile released a video statement where his face is not visible, where he has linked the politicisation of the case with the announcement of Lok Sabha election dates.

Meanwhile, opposition party DMK held a rally in Pollachi on Tuesday demanding action against the accused. Speaking at the rally, DMK MP Kanimozhi said, “Many of them are saying we are politicising the issue. Nobody wants to politicise this. But if the government acts only after the matter becomes politicised, then what else can be done?”

Revealing identity of victim, circulating videos

While the survivor and her family have maintained that the police is helping them in the case, Pollachi Superintendent of Police Pandiarajan revealed the survivor’s name in a press meet, against every law to protect the identity of the victim.

“The name of the survivor in this case was revealed only to silence the other women and prevent them from coming out in the open and complaining,” Kanimozhi alleged at the DMK rally on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, several videos of victims are doing the rounds on WhatsApp, with no consideration for the victims’ consent or mental health. These videos were allegedly on the phones seized from the four accused – two of the phones were retrieved by the survivor’s brother while the other two were seized by the police.

Reconsider Upper Age Limit For Admission To LL.B. Courses, SC To Bar Council Of India [Read Order]

Reconsider Upper Age Limit For Admission To LL.B. Courses, SC To Bar Council Of India [Read Order]: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Bar Council of India to reconsider, after hearing the various stakeholders, the upper age-limit for taking admission to the five-year and three-year law...

Reconsider Upper Age Limit For Admission To LL.B. Courses, SC To Bar Council Of India [Read Order]

Reconsider Upper Age Limit For Admission To LL.B. Courses, SC To Bar Council Of India [Read Order]: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Bar Council of India to reconsider, after hearing the various stakeholders, the upper age-limit for taking admission to the five-year and three-year law...