Man who shot student surrenders

07/11/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

A 20-year-old man, who shot dead a 19-year-old student at point-blank range in Vengadamangalam village near Tambaram in Kancheepuram district on Tuesday, surrendered before the Chengalpattu court on Wednesday.

The victim, Mukesh, a polytechnic student in Vandalur, had visited the house of his friend Vijay, who was working as a delivery boy for a food delivery service company. It is suspected that the two quarrelled while watching a video on a mobile phone, and Vijay shot Mukesh in the head with a pistol. Mukesh died on the way to the hospital.

The Thalambur police have registered a case and are investigating.

Bullet found

“The suspect will now be remanded to judicial custody and we have to take him into our custody for investigation,” a police officer said.

The officer added that they found a bullet of a smaller calibre than the 9 mm bullet that the police use. “We have sent it for forensic analysis,” the officer said.

New dean for GRH

07/11/2019, STAFF REPORTER,MADURAI

Professor of General Medicine J. Sangumani is the new Dean of Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital.

The new dean is expected to take charge on November 7.

According to a government order issued by the Directorate of Medical Education on Wednesday, the current Dean, K. Vanitha, has been transferred and posted as Dean, KAP Viswanatham Medical College and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital, Tiruchi.

Professor of Cardiothorasic Surgery at GRH A. Rathinavel has been promoted and appointed as Dean, Government Sivagangai Medical College and Hospital.

Complaint of violent behaviour against MKU professor

07/11/2019, SANJANA GANESH

Madurai Kamaraj University Registrar in-charge R. Sudha registered a complaint on Wednesday against Professor and Head of Department, English Language Studies, V. Kalaiselvan, alleging violent behaviour and verbal abuse.

In her letter accessed by The Hindu, the Registrar in-charge said that the professor used abusive language against administrative staff in the department and tried to throw a chair from a higher floor but refrained after realising that he was being recorded on mobile phone. The Registrar in-charge, who was present at the scene, alleged that he used “unparliamentary language.”

The letter stated that staff members of the department had already raised several complaints against Mr. Kalaiselvan in the last four years; particularly, three letters were sent in July 2015. All letters pertained to Mr. Kalaiselvan locking up four rooms and removal of posters from the Department of French from the notice board in the School of English and Foreign Languages.

When contacted by The Hindu, Ms. Sudha said that she had raised the issue with the Vice-Chancellor and hoped that the matter would be resolved.

Refuting all allegations, Mr. Kalaiselvan said that Ms. Sudha had shifted rooms of her department between the School of English and Foreign Languages and School of Indian Languages without seeking his permission. He added that this issue had been recurring for many years. “The Nagamalai Pudukottai police have registered a CSR against Ms. Sudha; Ananth, Engineer; Ragul, Professor of French; Ranjith, Assistant Professor, and Maharajan, a temporary staff, for raising threats against me,” he said.

A total of 65 faculty members from the university also condemned the actions of Mr. Kalaiselvan and said that he be relieved from his current post of Chairman, School of English and Foreign Languages and Director in-charge of Human Resource Development Centre.

Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan said that he had taken cognisance of Ms. Sudha's complaint and would place the issue at the Syndicate meeting to be held on November 7.

Vijayawada hotels to log out of Swiggy

Other apps could be next, they say

07/11/2019, STAFF REPORTER,VIJAYAWADA

Vijayawada Hotel Owners’ Association on Wednesday announced that all the hoteliers in the city would log out of online food delivery app Swiggy from 6 a.m. on November 11.

Addressing a press conference here, Association president P. Ravi Kumar and secretary Sanjay Mehta Jain said the delivery apps were mounting pressure on them to increase the commission.

‘Huge burden’

This has become a huge burden for the hotel owners due to the increase in prices of ingredients and operating costs. “Online apps like Swiggy, Zomato, Uber Eats and others had started businesses about a year-and-a-half ago with zero commission. They then began to charge 10% and increased it to 18%. Now, with their hold in the city becoming stronger, they are taking it to 25%.

“In addition, we have to bear the costs of order cancellations, telephone charges, and many other hidden charges,” Mr. Ravi Kumar said.

Hotel owners associations have already brought this issue to the notice of Competition Commission of India which is pursuing the case, he said.

“To start with, we have decided to stop logging in to Swiggy from November 11 and later we will extend it to other apps if things are not set right. We need the government to intervene and regulate the food delivery companies so that fair business practices are followed,” Mr. Jain said.

An e-mail and a message sent to Swiggy for clarification elicited no response.

Hotlines to link doctors at govt. hospitals to police

07/11/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

‘Hotlines’ to enable doctors and nurses to seek immediate police assistance will be set up at 80 government hospitals in the first phase.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami launched the ‘Hotline’ that has been set up at the government district headquarters hospital at Tiruvallur and government hospital at Tambaram.

To ensure the safety of all health staff including doctors and nurses of government hospitals and to enable them to work without fear for providing services to the public, the Health Minister had announced in the Assembly earlier this year that ‘Hotline’ would be established.

Scanner inaugurated

The CM also inaugurated PET-CT scan machine at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai and newly constructed buildings through video conferencing.

High Court to close all its gates for 24 hours
07/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Madras High Court has decided to keep all its five gates closed from 8 p.m. on Saturday to 8 p.m. on Sunday and not allow access to the general public during that period of time.

It is an annual exercise undertaken to assert the right of the court over its property and prevent people from claiming easementary right of way.

Since the High Court campus at Parry's Corner here has entries and exits on all four directions and people use it as a thoroughfare on a daily basis, there's every possibility of any person claiming easementary right.

Hence, the court creates an artificial break for a day every year to prevent the general public into the campus.

The exercise is carried out during weekends in order to not cause any kind of inconvenience to the litigants and others.

A notification issued by Registrar (Administration) K. Indumathi for this year states that the doors shall be closed from 8 p.m. on November 9 to 8 p.m. on November 10 and “general public will not be allowed access to the High Court premises during the said time.”

Notices shall be put up on the gates during that time informing people about the closure.

DME re-issues circular, asks deans to adhere to duty timings for PGs, interns

Doctors’ body files case in HC, says interns, PGs work 36-hour shifts

07/11/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

With government medical colleges across the State not adhering to stipulated duty timings for post graduates (PG) and house surgeons, the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) has recently re-issued its 2015 circular asking all deans of medical colleges to follow the timings.

The circular was first issued on July 9, 2015. The DME noted that the instructions on duty timings for PGs and CRRIs (Compulsory Rotatory Residential Internship) have not been adhered to. The deans of government medical colleges were requested to follow the duty timings. The regular duty time for PGs and CRRIs are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on all days except admission day. After 2 p.m., they are on call duty as per their duty roster.

On admission days in the respective units, all PGs and CRRIs will work from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. After this, they should divide into two batches — the first batch would work from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and second batch would work from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., the next day.

Post-admission day, the regular duty would follow.

G. R. Ravindranath, general secretary of Doctors Association for Social Equality, who recently filed a public interest litigation petition in the Madras High Court in this regard said, “CRRIs and PGs continue to work on a 36-hour-long duty. Long working hours is causing a lot of stress in them. They should have stipulated duty timings, and the government should implement the existing order on timings.”

With the court case filed, officials said the circular was re-issued as a reminder for all heads of institutions under the directorate.