Medical colleges to send lists by October 30

The bench was passing further interim orders on a PIL petition.

Published: 26th October 2019 06:28 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI : A division bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the managements of all medical colleges - private, government and deemed to be universities - to send the admission lists to National Testing Agency (NTA) by e-mail address viz., ntaneet-ug@nic.in, by October 30. On receipt of the same, the NTA should forward the original thumb impression of all the candidates viz., students admitted in these colleges, to CB CID before the next date of hearing, a bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and P Velmurugan said. The bench was passing further interim orders on a PIL petition.

Medicos, parents seek bail in NEET impersonation case

Two accused apply for advance bail fearing arrest by CB-CID

26/10/2019, STAFF REPORTER,MADURAI

Medical students and their parents involved in the NEET impersonation case have approached the Bench of the Madras High Court seeking bail and anticipatory bail on Friday.

Two petitioners and their sons currently remanded in judicial custody have sought bail.

Earlier, the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Theni, had denied them bail.

Meanwhile, another parent and his son, apprehending arrest by the CB-CID in connection with the case, have sought anticipatory bail.

Taking up separate petitions for hearing, Justice G.R. Swaminathan granted the State time to respond and adjourned the hearing by a week.

Meanwhile, eight persons currently in judicial custody in the case, including four students and their parents, were produced before Panneerselvam, Theni Judicial Magistrate, who extended their judicial custody.

Three male students from SRM Medical College, Government Dharmapuri Medical College and Sree Balaji Medical College, Chennai, and their fathers have been lodged in Theni district jail.

A female student of Saveetha Medical College and her mother have been lodged in Madurai Central Prison.

The Theni medico, who was among the first to be arrested in the case, was granted bail earlier by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court.

However, the court denied bail to his father.

Plea in Supreme Court for reforms to family laws

26/10/2019,NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court asked the Centre to respond to a plea to delete certain provisions of family laws that allow exclusive custody of children to one parent after a marital separation. The petition, filed by Sulochana Rani, sought reforms to these laws and raised concerns about children going without the benefits of shared parenting.

7 more held for Alliance varsity ex-VC’s murder
26/10/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,BENGALURU

Ayyappa Dore was murdered while taking a walk near his house.

File Photo

The police have arrested seven more people, including two women, who were allegedly part of the conspiracy to murder the former Vice-Chancellor of Alliance University, Ayyappa Dore. He was murdered while taking a walk at the HMT playground near his house in R.T. Nagar on October 15.

The accused have been identified as Kantharaju, 28, a drummer; Sunil Rao, 31, an executive in a private bank; his brother-in-law, Arun Kumar, 40; Fayaz, 29, a mechanic from J.C. Nagar; and Vinay, 24, cab driver also from J.C. Nagar.

The women have been identified as Fayaz’s sister Rizwana, 38, and Salma, 28, a dance bar girl who was in a relationship with one of the prime accused in the case, Suraj Singh.

“Four of the accused actively took part in the reconnaissance and attacked Dore with lethal weapons along with Suraj, killing him on the spot,” said a police officer. Suraj had allegedly been promised ₹1 crore by the Chancellor and co-founder of Alliance University, Sudhir Angur, to murder Dore. Sudhir had also instructed him to murder his brother and varsity co-founder Madhukar Angur so that he could gain control over the varsity, the police said.

HC bats for zero tolerance of drunken driving

26/10/2019

“The time has now come for such a just measure. Too many lives have already been lost to this lethal cocktail of internal consumption and internal combustion,” he said.

The observations were made while dismissing an appeal preferred by a two-wheeler rider, K. Shanmugam, in 2006, seeking higher compensation than ₹39,500 awarded to him by a motor accident claims tribunal at Poonnamalee in 2004. Holding that the appellant was not entitled to any money since he was in an inebriated state at the time of suffering injuries in the road accident in 2003, the judge set aside the award passed by the tribunal.

Referring to incessant news reports of road accidents caused by those under the influence of alcohol and innocent people such as pavement dwellers losing their lives due to cars mowing them down in the middle of their sleep, the judge said, “While Section 185 prescribes so-called limits, this court is duty-bound to observe that these limits seem to be theoretical because the effect of alcohol on an individual can vary widely.”

He pointed out that a multitude of factors including the body type of an individual, the amount of food taken before or after alcohol consumption, a genetic disposition to tolerance of alcohol, the speed at which acohol was consumed and even external factors would determine the effect of spirits. Even results of breath analysers were not infalliable. Therefore, he suggested turning the clock back to a pre-1994 era — before the permissible limit of 30 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood was introduced.

“Despite the law’s seemingly stern approach to drunken driving offenders, societal attitudes, by far and large, do not match. A study by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences found that 99% of drivers who drink and drive agree that it (drinking and driving) is dangerous and 97% were aware that it is prohibited under law. Yet, many Indians still get behind the wheel whilst intoxicated,” Justice Mahadevan lamented.

He said that there must be a zero tolerance policy against drunken driving in the country also because of proliferation of motor vehicles, huge pedestrian movement on roads, the absence of sidewalks or pavements, a general indiscipline and indifference to traffic regulations and the fact that roads and sidewalks were used by poor hawkers at night.

HC grants Chidambaram a month’s time to appear for cross-examination

Case pertains to his election from Sivaganga constituency in 2009

26/10/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Friday granted former Union Minister P. Chidambaram a month’s time to appear before it for cross-examination in a case pertaining to his election from Sivaganga Parliamentary constituency in 2009 by a margin of 3,354 votes.

The case has been pending in the court for the last 10 years.

Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana adjourned the case to November 22 after she was told by senior counsel R. Thyagarajan that his client was under incarceration in the INX Media case.

Although the Supreme Court had granted him bail in a case booked by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he was yet to get relief in prosecution initiated by the Directorate of Enforcement.

When the judge wanted to know if it would be possible for him to appear for cross examination on November 18, the counsel said, he did not “want to take the risk of not being able to ensure his presence on that day.”

Ex-Minister’s choice

He was, however, confident that the “situation might improve” by November 22 and that the former minister would be able to get bail in the ED case too.

On his part, G. Saravana Kumar, counsel for the election petitioner R.S. Raja Kannapan who had contested in an AIADMK ticket and lost to Mr. Chidambaram in 2009, told the judge that he had only around 40 questions to be posed during cross examination and he would not be taking more than 90 minutes to do so.

Since the case had been pending for nearly a decade and also because there was a chance of her being deputed to the Madurai Bench of the High Court from December, Ms. Justice Sathyanarayana requested the counsel on both sides to expedite the trial proceedings so that a quietus could be given to the election petition at the earliest.

DVAC seizes ₹43.44 lakh from govt. offices in State

Searches conducted in 15 districts and Chennai

26/10/2019, S. VIJAY KUMAR ,CHENNAI

In a joint surprise check, officials of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption seized ₹43.44 lakh of unaccounted cash in government offices across the State.

In the office of the Block Development Officer, Chitlapakkam, investigators seized ₹22.55 lakh along with 12 sovereigns of gold. While ₹4.67 lakh was seized from the office of the Sub-Registrar, Ambattur in Chennai, ₹2.24 lakh and ₹1.67 lakh were seized from the offices of the Block Development Officer, Tiruchendur and Sub-Registrar’s office, Thiruverumbur, respectively. An amount of ₹1.60 lakh was found in the office of the District Fire Officer, Madras High Court campus, Chennai.

Officials could not account for the cash seized in the simultaneous checks conducted by the DVAC and District Inspection Cell officials three days ahead of Deepavali.

The quantum of unaccounted cash is calculated on the basis of the cash-on-hand declarations made by officials at the time of entering office for duty, a senior DVAC official said.

The searches were conducted in 15 districts and Chennai city. Transport, Registration, Rural Development and Tasmac were among the departments covered in the checks, conducted on October 23 and 24.

Deepavali ‘mamool’

“The searches were organised following a specific tip-off that some officials were receiving Deepavali ‘mamool’ or gifts from different sources. The cash has been seized and special teams formed to investigate the case,” the official said.

It is normal for the DVAC to conduct searches ahead of festivals like Deepavali or Pongal in government offices, particularly the Registration and Transport Departments.

The unaccounted cash seizures are followed by registration of cases and transfer of the officials concerned. Criminal prosecution or departmental action would be based on the outcome of the investigation, a senior investigator added.