End use of legal size paper, CJI urged

A4 sheets are more economical to photocopy, law students say in letter

06/10/2019, KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL , ,NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court rules mandate A4 sheets but they have been ignored.

Three law students have written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi to drop the colonial practice of using legal size paper across courts in India and opt for the commonly available A4 size sheets for case records.

“The government and corporates are the biggest litigants, both of which carry out their internal affairs by use of A4 size paper. Use of legal size paper is only the result of British colonial practice, which is still being continued without any logic. Even in countries like the U.K. and U.S., their entire legal system make use of A4 size paper,” they said.

Besides, Abhinav Singh, Akriti Agarwal and Lakshya Purohit informed the CJI that A4 paper was more economical to photocopy, given the numerous copies of case records courts require litigants to file. Photocopying was a separate industry within court complexes. Copies of pleadings depended on the number of parties, records and also the number of judges on the Bench.

For example, in the Ayodhya appeals, the court records alone filled 15 huge steel boxes. The five civil suits had numerous defendants.

Copies had to be made for each one, and most importantly, five separate copies of every record for each of the judges on the Bench. The photocopies alone would cost a fortune for the litigants.

The letter pointed out that photostat vendors charged ₹2 for copying the legal size paper and ₹1 for A4 paper.

For the CJI, who heads the Ayodhya Bench, the September 30 letter from the three students may come as an eye-opener.

In fact, the Supreme Court rules also mandate A4 size sheets. But old habits die hard in legal practice, and the rule is ignored.

The students told the CJI that even the U.K. and U.S. Supreme Courts did not use legal size sheets and preferred their more modern A4 counterparts mostly because the latter were easily available.

Kerala police crack serial murder case

06/10/2019

The investigators cracked the mystery by tracking Mathew and Prajikumar, who allegedly supplied the cyanide to the woman for executing the murders.

The duo was working at the time with a local jewellery firm and had access to the poisonous chemical. .

Annamma Thomas was the first victim in 2002 and reportedly died soon after having some home-made food. Six years later, her husband Tom Thomas died the same way, followed by their son Roy in 2011.

The other three deaths took place in 2014 and 2016. Annamma’s brother Mathew Manchadiyil, and his two relatives — Sily and her daughter were the victims.

They too are believed to have died after having food mixed with a small quantity of cyanide.

After the mysterious deaths, the woman who allegedly masterminded the killing married another member of the family.

The conspiracy was exposed after Rojo Thomas, son of Tom Thomas, filed a confidential petition with the Crime Branch seeking a probe into the suspicious deaths in his family. He also submitted proof of some secret land deals, in which the suspects tried to take control of the properties of the dead persons.

In a preliminary investigation, the Crime Branch squad confirmed that Shaju was present when all the six deaths occurred.

The actual motive was revealed when the squad checked the property transactions and financial deals done by her in partnership with her new husband. The details of telephone calls made by the two during the time of the deaths too helped the police in uncovering the mystery.

Indians stranded in Saudi seek help

600 workers, including 70 from Kerala, have been suffering in labour camps

06/10/2019, MINI MURINGATHERI,THRISSUR

Around 600 employees, including 70 from Kerala, have been suffering in labour camps in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, without food, medicine and wages.

These employees, many of them working in Saudi Arabia for five to 30 years, were left in dire straits as their companies, mostly in the construction sector, were listed in the ‘Red’ category after they failed to implement the Nitaqat law.

Nitaqat, which was brought in to localise labour, makes it mandatory for all businesses in private sector to reserve at least 10% of jobs for Saudi nationals.

K.V. Abdul Khader, MLA and chairman of the Assembly committee for Pravasi Welfare, who visited the labour camp of Al Dossary Company in Jubail city in KSA, said the lives of these labourers was horrible. Al Dossary was a well-established company for roads and other civil works.

“They have been denied food and medicine. They are not getting wages for more than 10 months. As they are not getting any insurance benefits, many are not able to take treatment for even serious illnesses,” said Mr. Khader.

“Most of them face travel ban as their visa and other documents have already expired. They cannot come back home even if their beloved ones die. Many are yet to get huge amounts of money from their companies as service benefits,” Mr. Khader said.

“Their labour camps have been without power or water supply for months. Many of them collapse unable to tolerate the heat. The company managements are not providing them with any help. They are now surviving with the support of some Malayali organisations,” the MLA said.

There are many more workers in various other companies like Al Khobar and Araar, who face a similar fate, he added.

The new management policy is to close down the company without paying any compensation to employees. They are not given any wages for the last 10 months, according to Employees Coordination Committee of Al Dossary Company.

The employees submitted a written complaint to a Saudi labour court with the support of the Indian Embassy help desk and verdict was in their favour. But the company is not taking any step to execute the judgment, the employees alleged.

Mr. Khader urged the Union government to take up the issue at the diplomatic level with the Saudi Ministry.

Junior doctors strike work in Bhopal hospital

06/10/2019, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA,BHOPAL

Junior doctors at the State-run Hamidia Hospital in in Madhya Pradesh struck work on Saturday demanding arrest of a man who allegedly molested and robbed one of their colleagues.

An unidentified person entered the hostel room of a doctor through the window and molested, threatened and robbed her, said M.P. Junior Doctors’ Association president Sachet Saxena.

“If the police does not catch the culprit in 24 hours, we will launch a protest across the State,” he said.

The stir, in which over 300 junior doctors and around 1,000 under-graduates are taking part, has affected services, admitted a hospital official.

Post-mortem report exposes cyanide trail

In macabre Kerala case, presence of chemical in Roy Thomas’s body led Crime Branch to suspects

06/10/2019, STAFF REPORTER,KOZHIKODE

The confidential investigation launched by the Crime Branch into the serial murders came to the attention of the people of Koodathayi, a village located about 30 km from the city, only when the investigators decided to open the graves of the six victims and collect the remains for forensic examination.

The squad had maintained secrecy in investigation and placed the suspects — Jolly Shaju, the prime accused, and two others — under surveillance.

Rojo Thomas, son of first victim Tom Thomas, had told the squad that he too was under the scanner of the alleged murderers. The man and his family could not be targeted as they lived abroad, police sources said. It was Mr. Rojo’s persistent demand that prompted the Crime Branch to take up the case, which was not probed in depth by the local police. He had gone to the squad multiple times with the evidence against the suspects, and the Crime Branch then decided to open the graves.

District Police Chief (Kozhikode Rural) K.G. Simon on Saturday said the post-mortem examination of the body of Roy Thomas — the third victim — which revealed traces of cyanide, provided the Crime Branch team with incriminating evidence to arrest the three suspects.

Of the six victims, post-mortem examination was conducted only on Roy Thomas’s body, since his death was suspected to be a case of suicide. “Details of the other five deaths came to light following a two-month investigation by a Crime Branch squad,” Mr. Simon told reporters at Vadakara. He said the police had submitted a re-investigation report to the court.

Forged ID card

According to Mr. Simon, the enthusiasm shown by Jolly Shaju to project the death of her former husband Roy Thomas as cardiac arrest prompted the squad to focus on her. They found that Jolly was using a forged identity card of the NIT-C to create the impression that she was a lecturer there.

“We decided to exhume the bodies of all six victims and do forensic examination. Preliminary evidence shows all were murdered,” he said. Mr. Simon said Jolly and Roy Thomas were not on good terms. “We have evidence to show she got the cyanide from the other two suspects, M.S. Mathew and P. Prajikumar,” he said.

Cars, cargo for President Xi’svisit to arrive in Chennai by special aircraft

Chinese officials inspect security arrangements at airport

06/10/2019, SUNITHA SEKAR,CHENNAI

A wall painting at Gate Number 5 of Chennai airport.B. Velankanni RajB. Velankanni Raj

A special aircraft carrying cars and cargo from China is expected to arrive at Chennai airport in a few days, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit next week.

“A Boeing 747 may be arriving early next week carrying their cars. It is not clear how many will be transported. The aircraft will carry everything the Chinese President and his personnel will need for their stay here for two days from 11 October to 13 October,” an official said. Inspection was recently done by Chinese personnel in the airport to check for security and other arrangements and in a few days, personnel from the Special Protection Group (SPG) too will arrive in the city to carry out their inspection of the airport, sources said.

For the brief period when the Chinese President arrives, there will be no domestic and international flights; airlines will be informed to reschedule the timings of the flights.

When the Chinese President’s aircraft lands, there will be dance and music and a space is being earmarked for it in the operational area of the airport, another official said.

The airport has already been abuzz with a slew of activities to prepare for his visit and to spruce up the premises.

Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the walls near gate no.5 and 6 were being repainted now; soon, there would be murals in the walls. A mini roundtana like facility would be created with landscaping. “A massive cleaning of sorts is happening in the airport so that there is no issue of any sort,” he added.

A vertical garden would also be created in the Chennai Metro Rail pillar near the Meenambakkam station as well.

Metro Rail

In lieu of this visit, Chennai Metro Rail has begun cleaning their pillars and removing all kinds of posters. They have warned that pasting of posters will make the individual or firm liable for imprisonment up to a term of six months. Or a fine of ₹1,000 will be imposed.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), there may be some rearranging of security personnel in stations to ensure safety.

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