Don’t allow protests on hospital premises, deans told

The communication comes in the wake of ongoing doctors strike across the State.

Published: 30th October 2019 04:50 AM

 

Doctors protesting at Rajiv Gandhi GH in Chennai on Tuesday | Ashwin Prasath

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Director of Medical Education, additional charge, R Narayanababu, has sent a circular to all deans of medical colleges and heads of institutions, under the directorate instructing them to file a police complaint if any protest is organised on the hospital premises. The communication comes in the wake of ongoing doctors strike across the State.

The DME also instructed them not to allow unauthorised, unorganised pandal inside hospitals and college premises. Any such structures inside the campus should be evicted immediately. It is also instructed to lodge complaint with outpost police station or nearby police station to prevent unauthorised gathering or protest against the government, and protect doctors who are attending duty, the circular said.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh also wrote a letter to Director-General of Police (DGP) and also city police Commissioner on Monday seeking protection to all government hospitals and government medical college hospitals.

FIR not a reason to deny admission to educational institutions, says HC The action of the college is violating Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to education, the judge held and passed the above order.

Published: 30th October 2019 04:50 AM

Madras HC (File | EPS)

By Express News Service

MADURAI: Observing that pendency of a First Information Report (FIR) (against a person) cannot be cited as a reason to deny him/her admission in educational institutions, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed a Government Arts College in Karur to admit a 20-year-old youth in M.A. History course.

Justice M Sundar passed the order on a petition filed by one K Suranthran of Karur, who belongs to Revolutionary Students Youth Federation (RSYF). Suranthran had graduated B.A. History from the aforementioned college and had applied for post-graduation course in the same discipline. But the college administration, after receiving a communication from police authorities seeking details, including petitioner’s attendance particulars, academic performance and behaviour in the college, had rejected his application citing a pending FIR against him.

Hearing the case, Justice Sundar noted that the college had denied admission to the petitioner, despite him being a meritorious student and several seats for the said course remaining vacant, only on the sole ground that he has an FIR pending against him.

Pointing out that an FIR is not a proof of guilt and that the person shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court, the Judge opined that the college authorities assumed the role of prosecutors, juries and judges. The action of the college is violating Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to education, the judge held and passed the above order.

HC directs school to hand over certificates to student

30/10/2019 , Staff Reporter , MADURAI

Reiterating that certificates of a student could not be held back by an educational institution citing arrears in fees, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed a private school in Pudukkottai district to hand over the certificates to a student.

In his petition, the student’s father, K. Palanisamy from Gandarvakottai, said that his son completed Class 12 in Vidya Vikash Matriculation School. However, the school authorities did not hand over the certificates citing arrears in school fees.

Justice M. Sundar observed that the court had repeatedly held that certificates of a student were his property and they could not be retained by an educational institution, citing any monetary claim.

The certificates of a student were not like fixed deposits in banks, over which an educational institution could claim lien in terms of Section 171 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

However, it was open to the school to file a civil suit against the petitioner before the jurisdictional civil court to recover the arrears, the court said. The court directed the school authorities to issue the transfer certificate, conduct certificate, mark sheets and other necessary documents to the petitioner’s son within one week.

Tahsildar sends message criticising Collector 

He holds district administration head responsible for non-disbursal of salary to 30 employees

30/10/2019 , Special Correspondent , VIRUDHUNAGAR

A Tahsildar, R. Ramanathan, has sent a WhatsApp message criticising Collector A. Sivagnanam for ‘failure in disbursing salary to some 30 employees of Virudhunagar and Sattur Units for Land Acquisition meant for Madurai-Thoothukudi railway track doubling project.

In his Deepavali greeting to the Collector, Mr. Ramanathan held the Collector responsible for not taking adequate efforts to disburse their salary for 10 months since January despite the Centre having sanctioned huge funds to the State in December 2018.

However, Virudhunagar District Revenue Officer K. Udhayakumar denied the charge, saying the salary had been issued till April for the staff attached to the Sattur unit and till May for those attached to the Virudhunagar unit.

“Despite a long process and administrative delay in sanctioning the funds to the units, the district administration has managed to disburse their salary through other resources,” he told The Hindu.

However, in his message to the Collector, which is being circulated among functionaries of various government officials’ and employees’ associations, Mr. Ramanathan said the lackadaisical attitude of the district administration had made the 30 families suffer for long without salary.

Among the employee are two Tahsildars, some Revenue Inspectors, Assistants, Computer Operators and Surveyors.

“Even the salary given to us has only been the net salary and not with deductions like Government Provident Fund contribution,” one of the officials employed in a unit said.

Interest

The Tahsildar questioned who would compensate the loss of interest on their contribution due to non-payment of GPF for 10 months.

Stating that the Virudhunagar unit could not even pay rent for its office building and had got loans for taking hundreds of photocopies, Mr. Ramanathan said the officials were made to cut a sorry figure before the landlord and the photocopying shop owner.

“Even travel allowance, electricity bills and water charges have been paid by the employees themselves,” he said in his long message.

Revenue officials said Mr. Ramanathan, who was the district president of Tamil Nadu Revenue Officers’ Association, was one among the several government employees who were placed under suspension in January following their participation in the strike called by JACTTO-GEO.

The DRO expressed hope that very soon the salary of the employees would be sanctioned by the government.

High Court holds special sitting 

Judges express displeasure over govt. officials not being aware of guidelines

 30/10/2019 , Mohamed Imranullah S., CHENNAI

The Madras High Court held a special sitting on Tuesday — despite it being the last day of the Deepavali holidays — and sought to know the number of permissions granted in the last 10 years for sinking borewells and tubewells in the State, the number of drilling agencies registered with the government, how many abandoned borewells there were across the State and the penal action taken against individuals for violating the 2009 Supreme Court guidelines on handling borewells.

Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and N. Seshasayee wanted the details to be submitted by November 21. The interim order was passed on an urgent public interest litigation petition filed by V. Ponraj, former Director (Technology Interface) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, seeking the effective implementation of the Supreme Court guidelines and the consequent rules that were framed in 2015.

The judges expressed their displeasure over government officials themselves not being aware of the guidelines and even the consequent rules framed by the State government in 2015. Though the Supreme Court had ordered that every landowner wanting to sink a borewell should make an application 15 days in advance and obtain necessary permission from the officials concerned, no such time period had been specified in the 2015 rules, the judges pointed out.

“Unless we, as citizens, are prepared for a change in our outlook, we are going to assemble like this forever. Do we really require a dead body every time to remind us of our duties and responsibilities? It is not just Sujith’s parents but the entire nation has lost a child,” Justice Seshasayee said.

In his submission, Government Pleader V. Jayaprakash Narayan said the borewell in which Sujith fell had been sunk on land owned by the child’s grandfather Devaraj and three other relatives. The borewell had been sunk for 610 feet and was abandoned seven years ago. Though the landowners had closed it with mud, it appeared to have caved in over the years due to rain and other natural causes. The judges appealed to the media, especially television channels, to allocate a few minutes of their prime time slots to create awareness among the people about court orders and statutory regulations governing issues such as illegal flex boards and abandoned borewells.

Optimal efforts were made to rescue Sujith: CM 

Stalin seeking to mislead people with a political agenda, says Palaniswami

30/10/2019 , Special Correspondent, TIRUCHI

Edappadi K. Palaniswami

Lamenting that two-year-old Sujith Wilson had died despite the ‘optimal’ utilisation of technology and manpower in the rescue operation, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday sought the people’s fullest cooperation in closing down defunct borewells and preventing such incidents in the future.

Mr. Palaniswami announced ₹10 lakh as compensation from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to the bereaved family. Another ₹10 lakh will be provided on behalf of the AIADMK, he said. “We are saddened that Sujith died despite our best efforts,” he said. Ministers had camped at the village to oversee the rescue operation, and experts drawn from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the Neyveli Lignite Corporation, the National Institute of Technology and Anna University had explored all possible means to rescue Sujith. At no time in the past has the government handled an incident of this nature with the deployment of technology on such a scale, the Chief Minister said after offering condolences to the bereaved. The operation was carried out with the help of expert opinion of geologists, the CM said, as he sought to rebut DMK leader M.K. Stalin’s allegation that the government had handled the issue in an inept manner. Mr. Stalin had asked why the government did not approach the Army for help. The CM said Mr. Stalin had made this point even when a barrage collapsed in Mukkombu. “The Army had certified that the State Public Works Department had adopted the right approach. Mr. Stalin is trying to mislead the people with a narrow-minded political agenda.”

Puducherry CM V. Narayanasamy said, "It's very sad to see the loss of little champ Sujith Wilson. My heartfelt condolences to his family and his relatives."

Doctors do double duty ahead of total strike
 
30/10/2019 , Staff Reporter, MADURAI 


 
Doctors examining a patient at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai on Tuesday. R. AshokR_ASHOK

Doctors at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), Primary Health Centres and Government Hospitals in the district wore black badges at work and undertook double duty pressing for compression of time-bound promotion, here on Tuesday.

A senior doctor from the GRH, who is part of the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors’ Association (TNDGA), which is spearheading the protest, said that all doctors completed major surgeries scheduled for October 30 and 31 in anticipation of the strike.

“Talks have been going on with Health Secretary Beela Rajesh since 11 a.m. but they seem to be inconclusive right now,” a reliable source said. The doctors did not punch in their attendance in an effort to show solidarity.

Doctors from Usilampatti Government Hospital and a staff member in Melur Government Hospital said that similar protests were carried out at their hospitals too.

“A three-member team in both the hospitals has been stationed to ensure that accident cases and critical cases are taken care of,” said O. Chandran, a senior doctor at the Government Hospital in Usilampatti.

Doctors in the State are eligible for time-bound promotions during the 8th, 15th, 17th and 20th year. President of TNGDA K. Senthil said that the members had been seeking its reduction to 4, 9 and 13 years. He added that this strike was the largest by doctors across the State since 2009.