Specialists can work for govt. post-retirement

21/09/2019, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA,CHANDIGARH

Specialist doctors in Punjab could now offer their services for five more years after their retirement at the age of 60.

Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, in an official statement, said the specialist doctors could serve in the Health and Family Welfare Department after their retirement.

Specialist doctors such as gynaecologists, surgeons, orthopaedics, radiologists, anaesthetists etc. will work as consultants against the vacant 384 posts till the time regular appointments are made, he said.

Initially, each consultant may be appointed for a period of one year on contract basis. It may be extended on the basis of their performance, he said.

The remuneration allowed to these consultants should not be more than the last pay drawn minus pension, the Minister said.

He said specialist doctors shall only be appointed for performing clinical duties.

EC to appeal against quashing of R.K. Nagar bribery case
A single judge of HC struck down the FIR in March 2018

21/09/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

The Election Commission has decided to go on appeal to the Supreme Court challenging an order passed by a single judge of Madras High Court on March 13 last year quashing a First Information Report (FIR) registered by Greater Chennai police in April 2017 regarding alleged bribing of voters during the campaign for Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar (popularly known as R.K. Nagar) byelection which got rescinded.

Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and N. Seshasayee were informed of EC’s decision during the hearing of a batch of four writ petitions, including the one filed by N. Marudhu Ganesh, DMK candidate, in 2017. All the four petitioners had insisted upon initiation of penal action against Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar and others for having allegedly attempted to bribe voters to make T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who was then in AIADMK (Amma) and contested as an independent, win the byelection.

According to the petitioners, the EC had rescinded the bypoll to the constituency on April 2017 after the Income Tax Department conducted searches at several places and seized crucial documents from the residence of the Health Minister. The documents were related to ₹89.65 crore having been reportedly given to various ministers, including the Chief Minister, for being distributed among voters of R.K. Nagar.

After the Income Tax Department forwarded the documents to the EC, the latter rescinded the bypoll notification and instructed the Returning Officer to lodge a police complaint. Accordingly, the Abhiramapuram police here filed an FIR on April 21, 2017 without naming anyone as an accused. Subsequently, Tiruttani MLA P.M. Narasimhan of the AIADMK filed a petition in the High Court to quash the FIR.

Although the petitioner was in no way connected to the case, a single judge of the High Court allowed his petition and quashed the FIR on the ground that it had been booked solely on the basis of an unsigned paper which contained the names of some ministers. The order was passed without the knowledge of the ECI. The Abhiramapuram police alone had been heard before the FIR was quashed.

The news of the FIR having been quashed came to light only in December 2018 when a Division Bench led by Justice Sathyanayranan was hearing the the batch of four writ petitions. Taking serious note of the issue, the judges came down heavily on the police for having let the FIR get quashed.

The batch of cases were heard last on January 24. After a lull of about eight months when they got listed on Friday, advocate G. Janani, representing EC counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan, sought time. When the judges insisted on knowing the stand of ECI, she said, a decision had been taken to go on appeal against single judge’s order.

Govt. evolves norms for redeploying surplus teachers
School Education Dept. rules out new appointments

21/09/2019, DENNIS S. JESUDASAN,CHENNAI

The School Education Department has decided not to allow fresh recruitment of teachers in government and aided schools till all “surplus teachers” are re-deployed in various classes and if necessary, in other schools.

“While deploying surplus teachers, no additional expenditure should be incurred by the government. New appointments should not be made while [re]deploying surplus teachers,” the G.O. stated, which was issued in the light of the Madras High Court judgment in April this year on the issue.

The State government had informed the High Court that over ₹444 crore was being spent towards salaries of over 6,300 teachers, who were employed in surplus, in the State-run and government-aided schools across the State.

While making appointments, between number of postings approved by the government for that respective school in 1991-92 and the postings necessary for the existing student strength as on August 1 that year, the lower figure should be considered for appointments, a G.O. issued in this regard specified.

The guidelines said that Bachelor of Teaching (B.T.) assistants, if found in surplus in a school, could be considered for second grade postings in elementary schools, if there was a need. Likewise, if there were vacancies in postgraduate (PG) assistant posts, B.T. assistant teachers possessing necessary qualification could be redeployed.

If there were multiple schools (aided by the government) run by a single private management, vacancies within all of them could be filled with surplus teachers among those schools by the management.

A list of surplus teachers redeployment to other schools is to be maintained by the authorities.

Scope for relocation

In case the teachers were willing to accept postings in junior classes, they could be considered for redeployment in schools run by the same private management or other, it stated. Once the redeployment of teachers was completed within a district, surplus teachers in schools would be considered for re-deployment to other districts through the Director of School Education, according to the G.O..

Impersonation case: hunt on to trace medico, his parents
Udit Surya moves court seeking anticipatory bail
21/09/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

A special team of police personnel from Theni district visited the residence of the parents of Udit Surya, who allegedly secured admission to Government Theni Medical College by using a proxy to take the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

It has intensified efforts to trace the student and his parents who have been absconding since the scandal broke out.

Anticipatory bail sought

In a related development, Udit Surya moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail. Refuting the charges levelled against him, he has stated mental health issues and depression as reasons for withdrawing from the course.

The police team headed by inspector T. Usha visited the apartment in Tondiarpet where Udit Surya and his parents, Dr. Venkatesan and Kayalvizhi, stayed.

They interacted with the neighbours, since the couple and their son were not at home. Sources added that the police are scrutinising call records of the trio, bank transactions and CCTV camera footage to trace them.

A senior official of Government Stanley Medical College Hospital said the team inquired about Dr. Venkatesan, who works as a casualty medical officer at the hospital. “He has been on medical leave since September 16,” he said.

The case surfaced after College Dean A. K. Rajendran received two emails on September 11 and 13 from a person identified as Ashok Krishnan, complaining that Udit Surya took the NEET twice but failed.

In his third attempt, he appeared in Mumbai and cleared the test. However, the subsequent mail claimed that the boy who is pursuing the course was not the person who appeared for the test.

Jadavpur univ VC faces flak for campus ruckus

Raj Bhavan Release Points At Serious Lapses On Police Part To Contain Situation

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata:21.09.2019

The office of Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday piled up pressure on the vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University and police, saying it had taken note of the “serious lapses by the VC” and the failure of the police to provide adequate “security arrangements for the governor” during Thursday’s six-hour campus ruckus.

A Raj Bhavan release on Friday referred to the “issue of serious lapses by the VC, including virtual abandonment of his obligations, and the apparent (police) failure in attending to the situation appropriately and inadequate security arrangements for the governor/chancellor during his visit”. The issues were “receiving his (governor’s) attention for way-forward steps”, the communique added.

The statement, combined with a directive to JU to submit a report on Thursday’s incidents within 48 hours from Friday, has put university officials in a bind. Governor Dhankhar’s presence, and his firsthand observation of the incidents on the campus from close quarters, would add to VC Suranjan Das’s discomfiture, they admitted. “The governor’s first-hand view of the incidents leaves little room for any report that may be contradictory,” a JU official said.

Junior Union minister and BJP MP Babul Supriyo was assaulted and abused by a section of JU students after he had gone there to attend an event organised by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students’ wing of BJP. The governor had rushed to the campus on Thursday evening to “rescue” Babul after speaking to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who, according to Trinamool Congress seniors, requested him not to go there.

Das was in hospital on Friday and was not available for comment. There were reports on Thursday itself that he was under pressure to resign, prompting senior Trinamool ministers to come out in his support and assure him that he had “no reason to worry”.

Mamata, who was in Delhi on Thursday, chose to ignore the issue after returning to Kolkata on Friday. The party, too, issued a tame release, saying that it “stood by” its Thursday’s response and added that it expected the “governor to give justice to the VC, professors and students”.

“The administration played a peaceful role to resolve the problem amicably. We must punish the culprits who assaulted students, including girls, and ransacked the campus,” the party said.

But it made “one thing very clear: universities are autonomous institutions and police cannot enter a university campus without the VC’s permission”, according to “a timehonoured tradition”.

Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh came out in support of the Raj Bhavan complaints against the state administration. “The governor had to virtually perform the police’s role,” Ghosh said. “We will pay back on the same coin if CPMNaxal-Trinamool cadres assault a Union minister,” he added.


IN VAIN: Police try to manage BJP supporters during a protest rally against the assault on party leader Babul Supriyo

More med frauds tumble out as colleges scrutinise docus
Fraudster Was Caught Once Earlier
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai/Madurai:21.09.2019

Nearly 10 days before the Theni Medical College dean filed complaint against a first year MBBS student for impersonation, his counterpart in Madurai had flagged another student who had come to the college with a fake allotment order of the New Delhi-based Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).

On September 10, more than a month after the college closed admissions to the 250 MBBS seats at Madurai Medical College, one Riyas from Andhra Pradesh came to the college clutching an ‘allotment order’ by the MCC. Medical college dean Dr K Vanitha, who became suspicious, informed the Tallakulam police. While at least two other candidates, who too had come with similar admission orders, managed to flee before the police arrived, Riyas was detained for inquiry.

Riyas told police that he did not clear the NEET-2019 examination, but one Vickram Singh from New Delhi told him that he could get him a seat in a medical college for a payment of ₹40 lakh. “His parents had negotiated with Vickram Singh and paid Rs6 lakh in three instalments. After payment of ₹4 lakh, Riyas was handed over a ‘copy’ of an ‘allotment order’. The ‘order’ was handed over to him at the Madurai airport,” police said. At least 60 students were cheated by Singh, according to statement from Riyas.

Meanwhile, more information about the Theni college impersonator has tumbled out. It is not the first time K V Udit Surya is being sent out of a medical school. In November 2016, the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University refused to register his name, as he had joined the course without clearing NEET that year. In February 2017, the Medical Council of India had also directed the dean of Ponniyah Ramajayam Insititute of Medical Science to discharge Udit Suriya and 35 other students of the college, who had joined the course without NEET qualification.

On Friday, all medical colleges – government and private – under the state medical university have been asked to verify whether the students who have been given admission are the same ones attending the classes. Some colleges said they had already verified the documents and the students.

Udit Surya moves HC for bail

Madurai: The first year MBBS student of Theni Medical College and suspected NEET impersonator, K V Udit Suriya, has moved Madras high court for anticipatory bail apprehending arrest in connection with the case. He claimed that the two images — one in his college identity card and the other found on NEET marksheet and admit card — appeared different because of lighting during photo session. He said that he had severe psychiatric issues. TNN

Now senior govt staff won’t be paid less than juniors

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:21.09.2019

Pay anomalies are an integral part of government service. Government employees either end up in courts seeking remedies or await the mercy of their superiors to set right anomalies. But now, the state government has introduced a new system to ensure that seniors don’t get paid less than their juniors.

Pay anomalies are common in state government service. There are superintending engineers in the public works department drawing less salary than executive engineers who report to them. A senior revenue official noticed recently that his junior was drawing a higher salary. An assistant director in the art and culture department had a harrowing time getting pay anomaly rectified after charges against him, for which his pay was docked, were not proved.

Chief secretary K Shanmugam recently issued an order to all heads of departments to prepare detailed salary statements of their staff, following a new format, to identify and rectify pay anomalies, mainly instances of seniors drawing less salary than juniors. “It has been noticed by the personnel and administrative reforms department that the particulars which are furnished by the heads of the departments /administrative departments in Secretariat regarding the service details and pay drawn particulars are not sufficient to compare and justify the pay anomaly,” the chief secretary said. Also, the pay fixation details of many employees were found to be erroneous on cross-checking with service registers. The heads of departments also failed to provide authenticated copy of the seniority list.

Interestingly, the instructions for rectifying pay anomalies – of juniors getting paid more than seniors – was issued long ago. Subsequently, many pay commission recommendations were implemented by the finance department and fundamental rule provisions were amended too.

Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association president, S Peter Anthonysamy, said the new format would replace complicated formats followed by various departments in the past. “There used to be hundreds of queries earlier, and the files used to be pending for up to 15 years. The new format will benefit the staff and avoid the delay,” Anthonysamy said. The seniors are guaranteed the arrears after the anomalies are rectified, he said.