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Bengaluru: RGUHS may appeal against disaffiliated nursing colleges
TNN | Oct 14, 2019, 13:08 IST

Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences

BENGALURU: Seven nursing colleges in the city, which were disaffiliated by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in January, have not only gone ahead and admitted students for this academic year, but also helped students file an appeal seeking they be allowed to write exams.

RGUHS vice-chancellor Dr S Sachidanand said they will file a counter-appeal as the court has directed them to allow the students, who are not even part of the university, to write exams. "We had not even permitted the colleges to admit students, and here they are asking for permission to appear for exams," Sachidanand said, adding that their answerscripts won't be evaluated. He said the university had published a public notice, informing students about the status of the colleges.

The seven colleges - Bethel Medical Institute of Nursing Sciences, Hosmat College of Nursing, Gayathri Devi College of Nursing, Pan Asia College of Nursing, Bethel College of Physiotherapy, Hosmat College of Physiotherapy and Hosmat Hospital and Educational Institution - were disaffiliated due to alleged involvement in a certificate scam.

Almost 200 students from these colleges have appeared for two papers. Sachidanand said the university was unaware that the colleges had even admitted students.

CN Ashwath Narayan, deputy chief minister and minister for medical education, said he can't comment on the matter as it's in court, but promised swift action against the culprits. "More than the students, those responsible for this situation should be brought to book. I will escalate the matter to the highest investigating authorities," he said.

Exams live-streamed

In a first, RGUHS live-streamed its ongoing exams being held across 910 centres in 240 colleges. According to Sachidanand, 2,700 cameras are being used for the exercise. The live-streaming helped bring to the fore 14-15 instances of exam malpractices across the state.

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4 national-level hockey players killed in MP road crash, 3 injured
Birthday Boy Among Those Killed; One Injured On Ventilator

P Naveen & Ramendra Singh TNN

Bhopal:15.10.2019

Four teenage national-level hockey players were killed in an accident in Hoshangabad early on Monday while on their way to play in the semi-final of All India Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Tournament. Three others are seriously injured — one of them is on ventilator.

One of those killed, Aadarsh Hardua of Itarsi, had turned 17 on Sunday and the group had gone to his hometown to celebrate his birthday. Aadarsh, 16-year-olds Shahnawaz Khan of Indore and Ashish Lal of Jabalpur, and Aniket Varun, 18, of Gwalior, died on impact. Shaun Gladwin, 22, Akshay Awasthi, 18, and Sahil Chaure, 19, are admitted to a hospital in Hoshangabad.

Akshay, who is on ventilator, has been in the Indian hockey team camp for two years — the select 32 from which 16 are chosen to represent the country. All those killed are MP Hockey Academy players and had several national tournaments under their belt.

Chief minister Kamal Nath expressed his grief, tweeting: “All these players were the pride of Madhya Pradesh. Not only the state, but the whole country had very high hopes of them. We have lost budding, talented players. The entire hockey world will always miss them.”

The tournament was cancelled after the tragedy as teams said they were too much in shock to play, the organisers said. The semi-finals and final were scheduled in Hoshangabad on Monday, and that is where the group was headed after spending the night at Shaun’s house in Itarsi.

All seven of them packed into a Swift Dzire owned by Shaun’s mother. With him at the wheel, they set off on the 18km trip to Hoshangabad around 6.30am. Their semi-final was due to start in an hour.

Near Risalpur village, on NH 69, the car veered off the road and crashed into a tree around 6.40am. Shaun, who survived the accident, told police he lost control while trying to avoid a head-on collision with a jeep. Hoshangabad SP M L Chhari said, “Initially, it seems that reckless driving had led to the crash. The car was at high speed at the time of the accident.”

Sports department officials said the players had taken permission to visit Itarsi to celebrate Aadarsh’s birthday. Hardua’s parents, too, reportedly called sports officials to allow them to leave camp for the night. Officials gave permission on the condition that they would arrange for accommodation in Itarsi so that they wouldn’t have to travel by night, and that they would report well in time for the semi-final the next day. They had gone barely 5km on Monday when they crashed into a roadside tree.

Nath’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja said that the CM has declared financial assistance of ₹2 lakh to families of each of the members of the deceased from his discretionary fund. Besides, these families will get ₹5 lakh as the players were insured by the state’s sports department, Saluja said. 



HIGHWAY OF DEATH: The mangled remains of the car carrying the hockey players on NH 69 in MP’s Hoshangabad district on Monday. The players were on their way to play in the semi-final of All India Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Tournament

Med seat scam money parked in a K’taka co-op society: I-T

BV.Shivashankar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:15.10.2019

A Tumakuru credit co-operative society has come under the scanner of income-tax department in the medical seat scam that was unearthed following raids on educational institutions run by former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara.

Investigations said Shiva Shree Souharda Credit Co-operative Society — with three branches in Tumakuru and one in Bengaluru — was the epicentre of alleged moneylaundering activities. The medical college management parked unaccounted money in the society, sources in the I-T department said.

During searches on Siddhartha Medical College and Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, run by Parameshwara, a senior I-T official said they found eight bank accounts opened in the society in the names of employees of educational institutes. After scrutiny, officials seized the accounts along with ₹5 crore in deposits.

Suspecting a money-laundering racket, the officials are examining all the accounts of the co-operative society. “The case is in preliminary investigating stages,” said Pathanjali, director general of income tax, Karnataka and Goa region.

Sources said the accused allegedly opened benami savings accounts in the names of employees with documents they submitted at the time of joining the medical colleges. Later, the accused deposited money into their accounts and converted them into fixed deposits. The employees were in the dark about this illicit operation until the I-T officials questioned them last week.

Sources quoting investigators said unaccounted money had been invested in real estate and hospitality sector, among others. “We are still looking at documents and recording stakeholders’ statements. We may take more time before submitting the final tax-evasion report to the finance ministry,” said R Ravichandran, director of income tax investigation.

College managements allegedly sold each seat under the management quota for a price between ₹50 lakh and ₹70 lakh. Of the 300 government seats in three colleges — two run by Parameshwara and the third by former Union minister RL Jalappa in Kolar district — I-T officials found some 186 seats converted into management quota.

Photographer who lost arm in accident to get ₹52 lakh

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.10.2019

The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Chennai, has directed an insurance firm to pay up ₹52.46 lakh to a 23-year-old youth who lost his right hand after a truck hit his two-wheeler. The tribunal noted he was working as a photographer and the accident resulted in a permanent disability that will affect his livelihood.

The petitioner, Soundararajan, was driving his twowheeler from Arcot Salai towards Anna Salai when a truck hit his bike from behind near Kodambakkam bridge on June 25, 2016. In the impact, he suffered grievous injuries and had to be shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) for treatment. He underwent amputation of his right forearm and had to pay for further surgeries at a private hospital in Porur.

Following his discharge from the hospital, he moved the tribunal seeking ₹1 crore as compensation for loss of livelihood. Soundararajan, who was 20 at that time, was working as a photographer and a photoshop expert in a private company.

The insurance company, in its response, denied that the accident had occured due to the rash driving by the truck and contended that it was was due to negligent driving by the petitioner.

Soundararajan appeared before the Medical board, which assessed his disablity at 85%. The tribunal noted that the insurance company did not contest the assessment by the medical board and also pointed out that the FIR and other documents indicated that the truck was responsible for the accident.

Considering the functional disability and other factors such as loss of income and loss of marriage prospects, tribunal judge S Umamaheshwari held that the petitioner is eligible for a compensation of ₹52.46 lakh

The tribunal had turned down the petitioner’s claim for compensation and did not agree with his contention that his accident was caused due to the truck driver’s fault

Non-registration of rental deals no bar to move tribunal

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:15.10.2019

Though the recently introduced new Tenancy Act in Tamil Nadu mandates compulsory registration of all rental agreements, the Madras high court has clarified that not registering the agreements would not be bar for the rent courts to entertain applications for termination of tenancy or repossession of rented premises.

“Section 4 (2) of the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act, 2017 right has been conferred on landlord as well as tenant to apply for termination of the tenancy under section 21 (2) (a), in case landlord and tenant failed to enter into an agreement. Therefore, it cannot be construed that for approaching the rent court for getting relief of either termination of tenancy or repossession of the premises by the landlord, such application to be accompanied with a registered rental agreement,” Justice R Suresh Kumar said.

Therefore, unregistered rental agreement does not have an evidentiary value, in other words, it is inadmissible in evidence. Only to that purpose or to that extent alone, the effect of nonregistration of rental agreement can be construed, the judge added.

The issue pertains to an appeal moved by V Manimegalai challenging the order passed a rent court in Chennai dated September 9 dismissing her application for repossession of rented premises for absence of unregistered rental agreement as mandated by the new tenancy act.

Moving the appeal, advocate PB Balaji contended that absence of registered rental agreement would not make an absolute bar for entertaining an application for repossession of rented property under the new act.

Concurring with the submission, Justice Suresh Kumar said that if at all the tenant, who is the respondent herein, takes a stand before the rent court that there has been no landlordtenant relationship in the absence of registered rental agreement, then it is for the tenant to face the consequences as per the new act.

The court then directed the rent court to entertain the application and proceed in accordance with law.


The Madras high court has clarified that not registering the agreements would not be bar for the rent courts to entertain applications for termination of tenancy or repossession of rented premises

DVAC probes agri project fund swindling

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:15.10.2019

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has started an investigation into the swindling of money meant for a Union ministry’s project to improve irrigation facilities in Salem district.

The scam has been detected in the national watershed development project for rainfed areas (NWDPRA). Incidentally, last year, a Parliamentary panel had rapped the government for poor implementation of the scheme across the country. Started in 2008, not a single project among the 8,214 has been declared to have reached closure.

The FIR was registered by DVAC a fortnight ago, booking six officials of the agriculture department— four of them retired and one under suspension. DVAC’s inquiries revealed that in Salem district, NWDPRA was implemented from 2007-08 to 2013-14 in two unions. Nine watersheds were selected by the project implementation officers. Detailed project reports and action reports were prepared.

In these projects, ₹1.14 crore in 2007-08, ₹90 lakh in 08-09, ₹25 lakh for 10-11, ₹1.3 crore for 11-12 and ₹48 lakh for 12-13 were sanctioned. In total, ₹4.08 crore was allotted and released to the Salem office of this project. DVAC has found that officials colluded and prepared cheques in their own names and withdrew money meant for implementation of the scheme.

Documents show that the money was withdrawn under the heads of of administrative expenses, training, development work and salaries for temporary staff. It was supposed to have been given to the local officials in charge of implementation of the scheme. There was no proof of them receiving it or the project progressing.

The FIR filed by DVAC said N Subramania Siva, joint director and P Subramaniyan, deputy director of agriculture (state schemes) swindled ₹26.4 lakh between July and December 2009. From December 2009 to October 2010, another official, S Karunanidhi, who was joint director, colluded with N Subramania Siva to swindle ₹60 lakh in a similar manner.

Another official, G Udhayakumar, during his tenure from 2010-12 as deputy director of agriculture, colluded with Subramania Siva to swindle ₹1.3 crore.

Why city airport can’t handle jumbo planes

Existing Infra Not Sufficient, Says Airport Director

Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai:15.10.2019

Airports Authority of India (AAI) is expanding Chennai airport's passenger handling capacity by building a new integrated terminal and taxiways spending around ₹2,000crore, but the airport would still not be able to handle jumbo passenger planes like the B747-8 Air China plane in which Chinese President Xi Jinping and his delegation flew down.

The Chinese premier’s flight was given special arrangements and not many people were on board; but a passenger plane of such size cannot operated from the city airport. Planes like B747-8 and A380 with capacity of more than 400passengers cannot be brought to the terminals because the airport does not have suitable aerobridges or parking bays. Neither will the terminal being built have aerobridges that can be used to dock large planes. And passengers cannot be disembarked in remote parking bays because moving so many people by shuttle buses will be impossible.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) had tweeted that the airport handled two ‘code F’ planes for the first time. Giant freighters of the same size have landed at the airport earlier. Passengers from the two Air China planes, who were part of VVIP delegation, could disembark because they need not enter the terminals. And, AAI converted two parking bays into one to park such planes.

British Airways used to fly a giant freighter to Chennai two years ago. The authorities used to block a taxiway close to the runway till the plane taxied to its parking bay. The wings of the plane was so wide that the tips used to infringe onto the taxiway parallel to the runway. Other planes were not allowed on taxiway when the plane was on the runway.

AAI has converted its taxiways by tweaking the markings to park planes of different sizes. “Two adjacent parking bays have been marked in such a way that space of two bays together can be used to park one B747-8. When giant plane is not there, two narrowbody planes like B737 or A320 can be parked in the space. This was recently done and is being followed at major airports to use parking bays in a better way,” said an official.

Airport director S Sreekumar said it is difficult to handle ‘code F’ planes at the terminal with the available infrastructure. “The new terminal won’t have the facility because there is no demand from airlines to operate such big planes here. If there is a demand we can do a feasibility study to see if infrastructure can be added to handle the planes,” he said.

Because of this handicap, foreign airlines that fly A380 on Southeast Asia-Middle East route have assigned Hyderabad and Bengaluru as emergency landing spots. 



TOO BIG TO HANDLE: The two B747-8 Air China aircraft that brought the Chinese President and delegates for Mo-Xi summit