5,970 TN lawyers suspended for non-payment of fee

TNN | Mar 23, 2019, 04.16 AM IST

Chennai: The Bar Council of India on Thursday suspended 5,970 advocates from practising law till they pay the pending subscription fee of the Advocates Welfare Fund (AWF).
All the suspended lawyers have at least 25 years of practice behind them.

The Advocates Welfare Fund (BCI) Committee has resorted to issuing several notices and warnings to the lawyers asking them to clear the dues to avoid such action.

The Supreme Court has made it clear that lawyers who do not subscribe to the fund cannot be permitted to practise before any court in the country. As per Rule 40, Chapter-II, Part VI of the Bar Council of India Rules, every person who enrols as an advocate is mandated to subscribe to the Advocates Welfare Fund (BCI). It must be renewed every three years. From 1993, the subscription was converted to lifetime and was collected mandatorily during enrolment.

However, advocates who enrolled before 1993, continue to pay the subscription on a yearly basis. As the number of defaulting advocates were found to be over 7,000, last November, the bar council issued notice to all the defaulting lawyers and published the list on the official website of the state bar council.

Despite the notices and warnings, 5,970 advocates failed to make the pending payments within the stipulated time, inviting suspension.

On March 21, the Advocates Welfare Fund committee passed a resolution unanimously suspending the defaulting lawyers. Subsequently, through a communication dated March 23, C Raja Kumar, secretary to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, informed the suspension officially.

“It is hereby informed that the Advocates Welfare (BCI) committee has suspended the right of practice of 5,970 advocates in any court, tribunal or other authority till the payment of subscription under Rule 40, Part VI Chapter II of the Bar Council of India Rules vide Resolution No 242/2019 dated March 22,” the communication said.

BIZARRE!  23.03.2019  Times of India 

Man accidentally shoots himself after throwing gun at cockroach to kill it

A man accidentally shot himself after he threw his gun at a cockroach in an attempt to squash the insect. The unnamed 50-year-old man told police in Detroit, US that he tried to kill the bug by throwing a shoe at it, only for a revolver hidden inside to go off and send a bullet flying in his direction. The man’s gun fell out and fired, striking him in the foot. Authorities said the man was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition following the incident. It is unclear whether he ended up successfully squashing the cockroach or not. This is not the first time that Detroit has seen an injury caused by someone who went to extreme lengths to kill an insect. Two years ago, a man was badly burned after he tried to light bedbugs on fire in his apartment. He doused his infested furniture with alcohol and lit a cigarette, which he used to try to burn one of the tiny bugs, but he ended up burning the couch and himself.

Enjoy Dubai’s finest seaside attractions

23.03.2019  Times of India

In the jewel of the ocean... they fall from the sky’ was the mysterious clue revealed in the award-winning campaign BMG 3.0’s second film with Shah Rukh Khan. With the third film revealing La Perle as the second stop, we took a deep dive into the some of the other jewels that Dubai has to offer.

La Mer

One of the city’s newcomers — La Mer is known for its top seaside restaurants, cafés and plethora of ice cream parlours. Beach bars MASTI and Stars ’N’ Bars are at either end of the quarter, providing al fresco dining and drinking with magnificent views from outdoor terraces. The picture-pretty shoreline is lined with brightly painted beach huts and open for swimming from sunrise to sunset. While patrolling security forbids anyone from a dip in the dark, you can still sit on the beach and listen to the sound of the waves long after the sun sets. It’s perfect to chill out on after a hard day’s slipping and sliding around the family-friendly Laguna Waterpark.

Blue Waters, Dubai

Blue Waters Dubai is an island off the city and one of the latest attractions. It is home to Ain Dubai, houses 132 shops, restaurants, Caesars Palace Hotel and the new Cove Beach. The island’s lifestyle and retail area, The Wharf, is home to all the shopping and eating action, connected by walkways dotted around low-rise boulevards, with outlets still yet to open. As well as licensed fine-dining restaurants at the waterfront, there are quirky cafés and intimate bistros at every nook and cranny. For those who want to class it up a bit, there’s always Caesars Palace Bluewaters Dubai, featuring an outdoor swimming pool, six brandspanking new restaurants, a fitness centre and a health spa. It will also house Gordan Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. When the lucky island residents make their move (the first of which should be in early 2019), they’ll be dropping their boxes in one of 10 elegant mid-rise towers featuring 698 apartments, four penthouses and 17 townhouses set over a podium with stunning views of the sea and Ain Dubai.

Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

One of the world’s most daring developments, the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai is a haven for vacationers. Jutting out into the Arabian Gulf, this man-made archipelago was built in the shape of a palm tree, with a three-mile-long trunk and a fan of fronds lined with luxury villas and five-star hotels. From water parks and wildlife encounters to beach clubs and boozy brunches, discover 10 cool things to do at the Palm Jumeirah. One of the first things that strike you when visiting is its size. This giant archipelago is visible from space and the outer crescent is almost seven miles long. One of Dubai’s most lavish day spas, the Talise Ottoman Spa at Jumeirah Zabeel Saray, offers a host of pampering experiences. Awaken your senses with the Coffee Peeling treatment, where you’ll be scrubbed and buffed using Turkish coffee in the hammam (traditional bathhouse). Or treat yourself to ‘The World’s Most Luxurious Spa Experience,’ a full-day session that includes a 24 karat gold mask, a rose bath and a diamond body ritual. This ultra-luxe package includes an overnight stay for two and a caviar lunch with Champagne.

Atlantis, Dubai

Standing proud at the top of the Palm, the rose-hued Atlantis is one of Dubai’s most recognisable landmarks. It’s home to a five-star hotel, celebrity chef restaurants, and a pulse-racing selection of entertainment and leisure options. Unleash your inner kid at Aqua Venture Waterpark, where you can ride record-breaking waterslides (including one that shoots you through a shark tank), splash in the pools, or kick back on the private beach. The underwater thrills don’t end when you leave the waterpark. While you’re at Atlantis, swim with dolphins at Dolphin Bay, get up close and personal with the resident sea lions, and take a tour of The Lost Chambers Aquarium, where you can snorkel or dive through lagoons that are teeming with 65,000 marine animals, including 14 species of sharks and rays. For something a little more sedate, sign up for a yoga session overlooking the aquarium.

Facebook left millions of user passwords readable by employees

San Francisco:

23.03.2019

Times of India 

Facebook left hundreds of millions of user passwords readable by its employees for years, the company acknowledged on Thursday after a security researcher exposed the lapse. By storing passwords in readable plain text, Facebook violated fundamental computer-security practices that call for websites to save passwords in a scrambled form.

Facebook said there is no evidence its employees abused access to this data. But thousands of employees could have searched them. The company said the passwords were stored on internal company servers, where no outsiders could access them. Even so, some privacy experts suggested that users change their Facebook passwords. The incident reveals yet another huge and basic oversight at a company that insists it is a responsible guardian for the personal data of its 2.3 billion users worldwide.

The security blog Krebs-OnSecurity said Facebook may have left the passwords of some 600 million users vulnerable. In a blog post, Facebook said it will likely notify “hundreds of millions” of Facebook Lite users, millions of Facebook users and tens of thousands of Instagram users that their passwords were stored in plain text.

Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted a new “privacy-focused vision” for the social network that would emphasize private communication over public sharing. The fact that the company couldn’t manage to do something as simple as encrypting passwords, however, raises questions about its ability to manage more complex encryption issues — such in messaging — flawlessly. Facebook said it discovered the problem in January. But security researcher Brian Krebs wrote that in some cases the passwords had been stored in plain text since 2012. AP

Ola’s licence suspended for 6 months in Karnataka

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:23.03.2019

In a move that could affect thousands of cab users and drivers across Karnataka, the state’s transport department has suspended Ola’s cab aggregator licence for six months, effective Friday night.

This means the Bengalurubased app-based aggregator will not be able to operate any of its services —cars, autos and bikes — across Karnataka for the next six months. While Ola continued to operate its services, there were comparatively fewer vehicles in the city on Friday. Till late evening, cabs were still available on the app.

In Karnataka, Ola operates fleet in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Ballari, Belagavi and Kalaburagi. In 2016, Ola obtained the aggregator licence valid till June 19, 2021.

Calling the government notification “unfortunate,” Ola, in astatement, said, “Despite other companies continuing to operate illegally, we halted our bike taxi experiment weeks ago. Instead, we sought the state’s cooperation to develop a legal framework for a pilot project. We look forward to addressing these concerns directly.”

The government’s move came after Ola operated bike taxis in Bengaluru without taking permission from the department and several taxi drivers associations petitioned the department to take action against the firm. The state transport authority (STA) issued a notice on March 18 to ANI Technologies, which operates Ola cabs, to say the aggregator had violated the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016.

“The licence will be suspended for six months under Section 11(1) of the aggregator rules. We have asked them to suspend their services from Friday and surrender the licence,” said transport commissioner VP Ikkeri.

POLL BUZZ
Candidate promises 10 litres of booze a month

23.03.2019  TOI

Lofty promises are not new during elections, but A M Sheik Dawood of Anthiyur, Erode district, an independent candidate for Tirupur Lok Sabha constituency, has taken it to a different level. The 55-year-old candidate, who is a tailor, has promised 10 litres liquor for every family every month, which would be brought from the distilleries of Puducherry. Without batting an eyelid, Dawood added that he would get ₹25,000 dole for every housewife every month. “I am not telling this for people to commit mistakes. But I will bring good liquor from Puducherry and provide it to all,” he said, adding, “Nowadays who is not drinking. But consumption of substandard liquor is affecting people’s health.”

Plaint against Stalin

The ruling AIADMK on Friday complained to the Election Commission against DMK chief M K Stalin for making “highly defamatory” speeches against chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in Trichy on Thursday. The party alleged that the speech was in violation of the model code of conduct.

Deepa backs AIADMK

Jayalalithaa’s niece and MGR Amma Deepa Peravai leader J Deepa on Friday offered support to the AIADMK. Deepa told reporters that decision was taken after consulting senior AIADMK leaders. “If we contest the polls, it will hurt the cadres. We extend our wholehearted support to the party and we will strive for the AIADMK’s victory,” she said.

20k govt staff selected

As many as 20,271 employees of public sector undertakings, Centre and state governments have been selected for election duties in three parliamentary constituencies in Chennai, according to district election officer and commissioner of Chennai corporation G Prakash. They have been asked to attend training classes on March 24 and April 17, 14 and

17.

Sulur declared vacant

Tamil Nadu assembly speaker P Dhanapal on Friday announced that Sulur constituency as vacant following the death of AIADMK MLA R Kanagaraj on Thursday. “A vacancy has occurred in the Tamil Nadu assembly with the demise of R Kanagaraj, a member elected to the assembly from Sulur constituency,” said the speaker.

FOR THE CAMERAS: Barathi Kannamma, a transgender independent candidate, files her nomination from the Madurai constituency on Wednesday

Academicians question cutting training for HRDC courses

Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Trichy:23.02.2019

The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) decision to reduce the number of days for orientation and refresher courses offered by the human resource development centre (HRDC) across the country has not been received well by college teachers.

The new draft guideline released by UGC on Tuesday suggested reducing the 28-day long refresher course to 18 days and 21-day course to 14 days. The UGC sought the opinion of stakeholders to approve the guidelines. The human resource development centre has to plan, organize, implement, monitor and evaluate induction and orientation programmes for newly appointed college and university lecturers within the jurisdiction of one or more universities in a state.

There are 66 human resource development centres in the country of which four are in Tamil Nadu, offering periodic courses for young teachers that are mandatory for career advancement.

“Unlike school teachers, college teachers are taught teaching pedagogy as they directly enter the classrooms after their research for post-graduation. Such a refresher course enhances their ability to handle students and upgrade their knowledge,” said M Selvam, advisor of teachers association of Bharathidasan university (BDU).

Former president of association of university teachers K Pandiyan said, “Not only did UGC reduce the funding by limiting it to only few courses every year, it also made it mandatory for career advancement for teachers.”

Clarifying on the same, S Senthilnathan, director of HRDC run by BDU said, “UGC gives funding for a discipline once a year. But the fact is that there is an overwhelming number of teachers seeking to attend such courses. Such courses are run on self-financing mode with a meagre fee. This is done considering the welfare of teachers.”