Man tries to put Rs 1.94L in ATM, held

TNN | Mar 26, 2019, 04.32 AM IST

Chennai: A 24-year-old man, who was trying to deposit Rs 1.94 lakh at an ATM kiosk in Triplicane was nabbed by police and handed over to the election officer. He was allegedly depositing the money in different accounts.
The Triplicane police detained Arabi, 24 of Mannady, as he was not able to give details about the source of the money.

Police said that a passer-by had alerted them about a man depositing large amounts of cash at a SBI bank ATM. Later when questioned by police, Arabi gave contradictory answers.

The police team found bundles of cash in the denomination of Rs 2,000 and Rs 500, worth Rs 1.94 lakh, in his bag.

Police handed over the cash to Rajmohan, assistant executive election officer, Triplicane.

On March 8, police had caught Rawthar Sahib Malik, a resident of Nainiappan Naicken Street in Mannadiafter, who trying to deposit Rs 17 lakh at an ATM on Anna Salai.

2007 Dinakaran office attack: Former DSP gets four years jail

TNN | Mar 26, 2019, 06.09 AM IST

MADURAI: Days after setting aside the acquittal of then deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Rajaram in the Dinakaran newspaper office arson case that left three people dead in 2007, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court sentenced him to four years imprisonment on Monday.

On March 21, a division bench of Justices P N Prakash and B Pugalendhi sentenced nine people, including ‘Attack’ Pandi, former aide of M K Alagiri, to undergo life imprisonment in connection with the case. At the same time, the judges set aside Rajaram’s acquittal and directed him to appear before the court on March 25 to decide the quantum of sentence. The former DSP who appeared before the court on Monday urged the judges to hear him in the chambers. However, the judges refused, stating that he had already been convicted in the case.

DSP Rajaram to undergo the imprisonment concurrently

The judges then handed him four years jail term under section 221

(1) of the IPC (intentionally omits to apprehend a suspect) and one-year jail term under section 217 of IPC (public servant disobeying law to save a person from punishment). The judges further directed the DSP to undergo the imprisonment concurrently following which Rajaram was taken straight to the jail.

Dinakaran office at Madurai was torched by vandals on May 9, 2007, after it published the results of an opinion poll which suggested that M K Stalin had greater public approval as the political successor to DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi than his elder brother Alagiri. Three Dinakaran staff members — Vinoth Kumar, Gopinath and Muthuramalingam -— were killed in the incident.

The case was later taken over by the CBI, which booked 17 people, including Rajaram, for facilitating the attack.

Jet normalcy in 10 days, sale in 2 months, says SBI chief

Goyal Family Will Do Whatever New Investors Want: Kumar

Mayur.Shetty@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:26.03.2019

State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Rajnish Kumar has said that the new management committee appointed by banks will aim to restore Jet Airways to normalcy in 10 days.

The airline’s outgoing chairman Naresh Goyal’s place is likely to be taken by a former SBI chief — Janki Ballabh and A K Purwar have been tapped for the position. Jet’s day-to-day operations will be looked after by an interim management committee. The panel would be supervised by the board of directors, which will include two lender nominees, with the support of McKinsey & Co.

Speaking to TOI, Kumar said that the Rs 1,500-crore secured emergency funding provided by lenders would help take care of aircraft leases, demands from pressing creditors, along with pilot and staff salaries for two months. According to Kumar, the funds could be used to get grounded aircraft back in the air and cancellations should start coming down.

Lenders will also make efforts to get the grounded planes in the air as quickly as possible since Jet has the rights to many profitable routes. “Banks will hold 50.1% in the airline, which will be sold by June 2019. Goyal’s 25.5% stake will not come in the way as he has signed binding agreements and PNB has a pledge on some shares. They (Goyal family) will do whatever the new investors want,” said Kumar.

The equity conversion does not reduce any debt liability for the airline as the shares have been issued against debt of Re 1. Lenders will sell the airline to any investor who offers to pay the most for the equity and service the largest portion of the debt.

Kumar said that banks did not want to initiate insolvency proceedings against the private airline as this would result in aeroplanes being grounded. “You cannot have a resolution in the NCLT for an airline. This would mean that airline would go into liquidation,” said Kumar.

According to Kumar, the resolution — although being done outside NCLT — would be executed in a very transparent manner. “We will close the expression of interest on April

9. SBI Caps will run the process and we will take the final bids by April 30,” said Kumar.

He said that the process, which began at the beginning of the year, is being completed in record time. “We will complete the process in two months. It is a very good airline, it has very good routes, and a very good second rung of management,” said Kumar.

Stop political slogans on public bldgs: SC to TN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 26.03.2019

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Tamil Nadu government to take all steps to prevent defacement of natural landscapes and public buildings with political slogans and photographs of political leaders.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi criticised the Tamil Nadu government for filing an affidavit stating that the Madras high court has constituted a committee to look into grievances relating to defacement of natural landscapes and public buildings with political messages and that petitioner-advocate E G Rajendran could move the said committee.

The bench said the counter affidavit filed by the state government was not in the spirit of the March 8 order of the SC, which had expressed serious concern over the issue and wanted the state to take preventive measures.

It then ordered the Tamil Nadu government “to take all steps to prevent disfigurement and defacement of natural features like hillocks and hill faces, rocks as well as public installations and buildings with political slogans and photographs of politicians”.

For NGO ‘In Defence of Environment and Animals’, Rajendran had said political parties were responsible for 90% of defacement done to bridges, central medians of state and national highways and hillocks. He had urged the SC to direct political parties to immediately remove these posters and paintings on natural landscapes or face disqualification of candidates who had indulged in such vandalism.

OVER NON-PAYMENT OF WELFARE FUND

Lawyer moves SC challenging suspension of 5,970 TN advocates

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:26.03.2019

Advocate Sabarish Subramanian, one among the 5,970 lawyers from Tamil Nadu who were suspended by the Bar Council of India (BCI) for non-payment of subscription towards the advocates’ welfare fund, has approached the Supreme Court challenging the suspension.

He has challenged the suspension order on the ground that the lawyers were not served notice by the BCI before taking such adverse action. He wanted the court to quash the resolution dated March 22. Sabarish further contended that the suspension would affect the practice of advocates who have a standing of 25 years and above.

Similarly, a group of advocates led by G Mohana Krishnan, president of Madras High Court Advocates Association, made an urgent mention before the first bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Madras high court, V K Tahilramani. They wanted the court to grant an urgent hearing on the issue. To this, the bench asked the advocates to file a formal petition to consider their plea.

On March 23, C Raja Kumar, secretary to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, released a communication informing the decision taken by the Advocates Welfare Fund (BCI) Committee. According to the committee, it took action after several notices and warning were given 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 practice 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 for the Advocates Welfare Fund (BCI). The same must be renewed every three years. From 1993, the subscription was converted for a lifetime and was collected mandatorily during enrolment.

However, advocates enrolled before 1993 still continue to pay the subscription on a yearly basis. As the number of defaulting advocates in Tamil Nadu were found to be more than 7000, in November 2018 the bar council issued notices to all such lawyers and released the list of defaulting lawyers in the official website of the state bar council. Despite notices and warning, 5,970 advocates failed to make the pending payment of the subscription within the stipulated time, inviting suspension, a member of the committee said.

45 arts, science colleges apply for launching new courses

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:26.03.2019

In a strong signal that arts and sciences courses continue to be in high demand from students pursuing under-graduation, around 45 affiliated colleges have applied to University of Madras for approval to start additional courses in the 2019-20 academic year.

Around 1 lakh students pass out from colleges affiliated to University of Madras, including autonomous institutions.

In addition, 15 private trusts have also applied to the university to start new arts and science colleges, sources said. However, documents show that none of them have obtained the Government order (GO) from the state government, which is a mandatory step. The affiliations committee of the university’s syndicate has recommended that affiliation should be granted only if the GOs are obtained before March 31.

Sources said that colleges had asked for starting additional courses for BA Tamil and English, BCom, BBA and BSc Physics, Chemistry and Maths. The syndicate has recommended that due procedure should be followed to check if the colleges have the requisite infrastructure before affiliation is granted. For instance, a college should have one fully qualified teacher for UG major subjects and two for post-graduate subjects.

As for MBA and MCA courses, the syndicate committee has recommended that affiliation should be granted only if the colleges get the necessary approval of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and an NOC from Tamil Nadu government before March 31. Some colleges have also written to the university seeking permission to start courses such as B vocational banking, financial services, insurance, tourism and hospitality and BSc fashion technology.

However, senior university professors say that the most popular courses remain BCom and BSc in basic sciences. “Though there is an increase in the number of students shifting to arts and science, an equal number of good institutions are not coming up. This is why existing colleges want an increase in the number of seats,” a professor said.

Sources said many colleges have applied to the university to relax rules and allow them to run a fourth section. Currently, university rules stipulate that only three sections in undergraduate courses in every stream will be granted provided necessary infrastructure such as classrooms, labs, library and qualified teaching faculty is available.

BIG DEMAND: University of Madras

A ‘panic button’ to help the elderly in emergencies

Aathma Foundation, a city-based non-profit organisation launched the Aathma Panic Button, an SOS device for senior citizens, on Saturday.

Published: 24th March 2019 10:45 PM |

The device has been created in association with Impiger Technologies

By Express News Service

CHENNAI : Aathma Foundation, a city-based non-profit organisation launched the Aathma Panic Button, an SOS device for senior citizens, on Saturday. Talking about the importance of the ‘golden hour’ or the first hour after a traumatic injury, in medicine, D Suresh, founder-member of the organisation said, “The golden hour is extremely important.

It is during this time that emergency treatment is most likely to be successful. Unfortunately, in most scenarios involving elderly patients, help reaches them only after that period. For instance, if they have had a fall inside the washroom and are unable to call for help, giving them medical assistance after a said time becomes a futile attempt. We wanted to devise an instrument that could help them in time of emergencies.”

The idea for a panic button was mooted about two years ago by the founders of the organisation. “We tirelessly worked to create a device which was both — user-friendly and responsive. We are so happy to launch it, and provide it to people who are in dire need,” he shared.

The panic button can be worn at all times, is waterproof and is connected (wireless) to a receiver, which works like a modem. “When the user presses the button, an alert call will be sent to three emergency contacts — all pre-configured in the device. If they aren’t responsive, the ambulance service and Aathma’s control room will be alerted. This will help us reach the patient in time and provide emergency assistance. It also has an intercom facility. We are also planning to enable Bluetooth,” explained Suresh.


The Aathma Panic Button has been created in association with Impiger Technologies. “The cost of the device is `10,000. But, we are donating 100 panic buttons free of cost to underprivileged elderly patients, ” said Suresh.Rajaratnam, an 84-year-old was one of the first beneficiaries of the SOS device. “Aathma has been helping me by providing free medicines. Now, they have given me this panic button, which will be of great use,” he said. For details, call: 26220400