IP University gets new Vice-Chancellor

06/08/2019,NEW DELHI

Professor Mahesh Verma was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. Prof. Verma is an eminent academician, researcher, administrator and was serving as the Director-Principal of Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences. The notification has been released by the Secretary, Higher Education, Delhi government. PTI

Merger of quota seats for medical admissions challenged

06/08/2019, B. TILAK CHANDAR,MADURAI

The Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday ordered notice to the State government on a petition challenging the merger of surrendered vacant medical seats under the all-India quota with those of the State quota in NEET counselling for medical admissions.

Justice R. Suresh Kumar ordered notice to the State government for clarification on the issue. The court was hearing a petition filed by R. Deekshita of Madurai, who contended that the surrender and merger of vacant seats would affect the communal roster for the allotment of seats.

However, the court dismissed an earlier writ petition filed by the same petitioner, seeking a direction to allot the surrendered seats under the all-India quota only to those candidates who had applied under this quota.

The court dismissed the petition, taking into account the fact that the candidate was not eligible to be selected under the all-India quota.

Notice to T.N., Karnataka on 10% EWS reservation
SC seeks reply on plea seeking quota
06/08/2019, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA ,NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments to reply to a petition seeking that they implement the 10% quota for economically weaker sections (EWS), in addition to the existing reservation.

A Bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and B.R. Gavai issued notice to both the States on the plea claiming that all the other State governments have implemented the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019, which granted 10% reservation to the EWS category in government jobs and educational institutions.

“Neither Tamil Nadu nor Karnataka have implemented or enforced the Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019 till date,” the plea said.

The petition filed by advocate G.S. Mani sought that the two States make special provisions for its implementation.

It said the EWS reservation be implemented without disturbing the already existing quota benefits to the population belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Backward Classes (BC) and the Most Backward Classes (MBC).

The plea said Tamil Nadu had granted 69% quota to SCs, STs, BCs and MBCs whereas the percentage of reservation in Karnataka was 70. The petition also said that some of the regional parties in Tamil Nadu were strongly opposing the 10% EWS quota for some political reasons.

It said the ceiling of 50% reservation for SC, ST and BC was nowhere prescribed in the Constitution.

Managing biomedical waste: TNPCB cracks the whip
All stakeholders asked to apply for consent from board

06/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has directed all stakeholders in the State to immediately apply and obtain consent of the Board for management of biomedical waste.

In a statement, the TNPCB said, “All stakeholders in Tamil Nadu shall immediately apply and obtain consent of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board under the Water (P & CP) Act, 1974, as amended and the Air (P & CP) Act, 1981 as amended along with authorisation under the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 as amended. Non-bedded occupiers shall apply and obtain one-time authorisation under Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 without delay”.

The National Green Tribunal had warned States that environmental compensation will be imposed if the orders regarding management of biomedical wastes are not complied with.

The TNPCB said the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change had in 2016 notified the rules regarding collection, receipt, storage, transport, treatment, disposal or handling of biomedical waste. Under Rule 10, “....every occupier or operator handling biomedical waste, irrespective of the quantity, shall make an application in Form II to the prescribed authority, i.e. State Pollution Control Board and Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be, for grant of authorisation and the prescribed authority shall grant the provisional authorisation in Form III and the validity of such authorisation for bedded healthcare facility and operator of a common facility shall be synchronised with the validity of the consents....”, the TNPCB said.

Devotees asked to wait overnight for Athi Varadar darshan
Over 3 lakh people thronged temple on Monday

06/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI

Safety first: Lakhs of devotees thronging Sri Devarajaswamy temple in Kancheepuram on Monday; and, above, policemen requesting people to turn back. S.R. RaghunathanS_R_RAGHUNATHAN

With over three lakh devotees thronging the Sri Devarajaswamy temple to worship Athi Varadar on Monday, the Kancheepuram district administration asked a section of devotees to wait for darshan today.

“This was done keeping the safety of devotees in mind. The police asked those who had not entered the temple or queues to stay overnight,” Collector P. Ponniah said.

The Athi Varadar festival began at the temple on July 1 after the idol of Athi Varadar was brought out of the Ananthasaras tank after 40 years.

The idol would be kept for darshan till August 17.

With only 12 more days left for the festival to conclude, more and more devotees are thronging the town. A section of devotees had demanded that the idol remain in the temple.

Roads choked

Sources said that both the Wallajah-Oragadam and Sriperumbudur roads leading to the temple town choked with traffic for over an hour towards the evening.

Interior roads in temple town too were packed and both pedestrian and vehicular movement was restricted.

Ramanujan, a resident of South Mada Street, said they were not able to come out of their homes on Monday. “The traffic was just unimaginable and worse than last week. Ours is a small town and this is just an invasion happening upon us,” he said.

The crowd was so bad that even those in the VIP queue took over five hours to have darshan.

However, since the weather turned pleasant after noon and it began drizzling, there were no issues, explained a source in the temple administration.

A fatal legal error, says P. Chidambaram

06/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Monday said the government cannot modify Article 370 by using another provision of Article 370. By doing so it made a “fatal legal error” and it would discover this in due course.

The Rajya Sabha passed a resolution moved by Home Minister Amit Shah that would repeal the provisions under Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

“How can Article 370 be modified using Article 370?... I know it was your manifesto promise...but in repealing Article 370, you are unleashing forces which you cannot control,” he said.

While introducing the resolution earlier in the day, Mr. Shah had said, “Under Article 370(3), there is a provision that the President, on recommendation of Parliament, has the power to amend or cease the implementation of Article 370, through a public notification.” He later clarified to Mr. Chidambaram that the said provision has to be read with Article 371 D (Special provisions with respect to the State of Andhra Pradesh.)

Mr. Chidambaram appealed to the government not to “dismember the State” and warned it had committed a “cardinal blunder.”

“Momentarily you may think you have scored a victory...drum beats on streets may force you to think that you have corrected a so-called injustice but history will prove you.... Future generations will realise what a grave mistake this House is making today. This will be a catastrophic blunder,” he said.

He said the State was being reduced to the state of municipal administrations and instead of protecting the rights of the States, the Rajya Sabha was passing Bills which were on the concurrent list.

Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the State’s head, considered India’s crown, has been “chopped off” and it was a “matter of shame” that the Centre had reduced the State to a non-entity with Lt. Governor’s rule.

“The way an atom bomb explodes, such an explosion took place in the House today when the Home Minister arrived,” Mr. Azad said in the Upper House. He dared the government to bring a Bill to convert Gujarat into a Union Territory, saying it should not take things lightly, and accused the Centre of muzzling the State’s history while being “drunk” with power.

Tiruchi Siva (DMK) termed the move unconstitutional as the Constitution says that only the Assembly should decide on such crucial issues.

J&K loses its special status, divided into two UTs

Home Minister Amit Shah announces the Centre’s decision in the Rajya SabhaRS adopts the J&K Reorganisation Bill, with 125 votes in favour and 61 against

The two new Union Territories will be Jammu & Kashmir and LadakhLadakh will not have a legislature while Jammu & Kashmir will have one

06/08/2019, VIJAITA SINGH, DEVESH K. PANDEY,NEW 

DELHI

Ending Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in the Indian Union, the BJP government extended all provisions of the Constitution to the State in one go, downsized the State into two Union Territories and allowed all citizens to buy property and vote in the State.

Leading the charge, Home Minister Amit Shah piloted two special resolutions and a Bill creating the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh through the Rajya Sabha on Monday. While the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature, the one in Ladakh will not.

The first resolution informed the House that the President had used his powers under Article 370 to fundamentally alter the provision, extending all Central laws, instruments and treaties to Kashmir. However, the drastically altered Article 370 will remain on the statute book.

The government’s surgical strike on the State’s autonomy came as telephone and Internet services in the Valley were suspended, former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti remained under arrest and thousands of additional Central security personnel were deployed.

Mr. Shah said that if the Union Territory model worked well, the government would consider giving Jammu and Kashmir the status of a State again and “no constitutional amendment would be required”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present during the proceedings.

Mr. Shah said the Resolution for Repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution of India “would pass every legal scrutiny” and he was aware that an “NGO brigade”, supported by some parties, would challenge it.

Slamming the Congress, Mr. Shah said, “It was your policy that has killed so many people, more than 41,000, since 1988. Why aren’t youth in Rajasthan, Gujarat or Odisha misguided? Because there is no Article 370 in these States.”

Dismissing concerns that there would be “bloodshed” in the Valley, Mr. Shah said this was a “new experiment” and everyone should support it. “Terrorism cannot end in the State till Article 370 or 35A continue. They are an obstacle to development. We want to embrace the Kashmiri youth. The move will bring development, tourism and industries to the State. These opportunities till now were controlled by only three families,” he said.

Governor Satya Pal Malik on Monday night reviewed the security situation with top officials in Jammu and emphasised the need for constant vigil to deal with any eventuality. The Army’s Northern Command chief Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh met the Governor and briefed him about the security situation.

Reacting to the developments, U.S. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said, “We call on all parties to maintain peace and stability along the LoC.”

(With PTI inputs)