At this station, dog looks out for passengers 

Abandoned pet joins forces with the security personnel at the Chennai Park station
 
16/11/2019 , Dennis S. Jesudasan, CHENNAI 


 
Duty beckons: Chinnaponnu barking at footboard travellers at the Chennai Park Railway Station. B. Jothi Ramalingam

It’s the most ubiquitous sight across the country — a dog curled up on a railway platform — and would hardly merit a second look.

But the black-and-tan dog asleep under an old fan near the Station Master’s room at the Chennai Park Railway Station in Tamil Nadu is no ordinary canine but an active volunteer with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) unit deployed at the busy commuter hub in the city.

On the job

Chinnaponnu, who was abandoned at the station over two years ago, has seriously taken up the job of assisting the RPF in warning commuters illegally crossing the railway tracks and those travelling on the footboard of the suburban trains.

“She is not a trained dog but after watching us warning people crossing the tracks and travelling on the footboard, Chinnaponnu has learnt the drill. As we do our duty, she joins us and does her ‘duty’,” says RPF head constable G.C.D. Chiranjeevi.

When some passengers discreetly attempt to cross the tracks behind the back of the policemen on duty, Chinnaponnu barks and alerts them.

She also makes sure that nobody travels on footboard.

V. Senthamizhan, who works at a kiosk at the station, says the dog keeps to herself but is watchful of the surroundings.

“She once helped the police catch a man who was running away after snatching the mobile phone of a commuter,” recalls S. Sureshbabu, who works at another kiosk.

“I saw her owner from Tiruvannamalai, who said the family had to abandon her because their landlord did not allow them to keep a pet at home. But, they visit her once a month. It was from them we got to know her name is Chinnaponnu,” says Sureshbabu.

(See video at http://bit.ly/ChinnaponnuDog)

Govt. seeks nod for medical colleges in three more districts

16/11/2019 , Special Correspondent, CHENNAI

After getting the nod for six government medical colleges last month, the State government has applied for three more at Krishnagiri, Nagapattinam and Tiruvallur, and is set to make a presentation to the Technical Evaluation Committee of the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare. A senior official of the Health Department said they submitted applications nearly three weeks ago.

“We have already identified lands for the colleges in Tiruvallur, Krishnagiri and Nagapattinam. We will be presenting our case to the committee on Monday,” the official said. Health Secretary Beela Rajesh will be part of the meet.

After flagpost accident, victim’s leg amputated

 16/11/2019

Rajeswari

Strapped for funds, the family was turning to relatives and friends for help.

A relative had also sought support online to meet expenses.

Commenting on the development, DMK Singanallur MLA N. Karthik said that the AIADMK government’s silence on the issue only showed how "insensitive and inhumane" it was.

"It is not that the government is unaware of the issue. Journalists in Coimbatore had posed a question about the accident to none other than the Chief Minister. My party had also staged a protest on Thursday. Despite being aware of the issue, the government has done nothing. No official or ruling party member met the family. This only shows how inhumane the government is,” he said.

Earlier this week, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said he was unaware of the accident. He said there was no court order against flagposts. A few weeks ago Subasri, a young techie, died in a road accident caused by the fall of a hoarding installed by an AIADMK functionary in Chennai.

Stalin seeks resolution against NEET

16/11/2019 , Special Correspondent, CHENNAI

DMK president M.K. Stalin on Friday urged the AIADMK government to convene the winter session of the State Assembly to adopt a fresh resolution to do away with NEET.

“The government should not resort to the meaningless argument that it had sought reasons behind the Centre rejecting the earlier resolution. The new resolution should be sent to the President for assent before the commencement of NEET,” he said.

HC declares as unconstitutional portions of Govt. Servants Act

‘Roster system for reservation in appointment cannot be followed for seniority’
 
16/11/2019 , Mohamed Imranullah S., CHENNAI

The Madras High Court on Friday declared as unconstitutional certain provisions of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act of 2016 and held that the 200-point roster system followed in the State for providing reservation in recruitment could not be followed for fixing seniority and granting promotions.

Justices M.M. Sundresh and RMT. Teekaa Raman held that the seniority should be fixed based on merit alone and not on the basis of roster points since otherwise it would lead to a less meritorious reserved category candidate getting ahead of a meritorious backward class candidate who had got selected under the general category. The judges declared as unconstitutional Sections 1(2), 40 and 70 of the 2016 Act since they not only prescribe determination of seniority in accordance with the rule of reservation followed at the time of their recruitment but also give a “retroactive” and not just restrospective effect to such a procedure by stating that it shall be deemed to have come into force from January 1, 1955.

“We find the presence of manifest arbitrariness in the provisions under challenge. Neither there appears to be any power available (to enact the legal provisions) nor procedure followed. This appears to be a knee jerk reaction to circumvent and nullify the judgment of a Division Bench of this court in Santhosh Kumar case (2015) which had attained finality,” the judges said.

Authoring the verdict, Justice Sundresh also said, “We do not find any fairness in action on the part of the official respondents. A ‘Welfare State’ will have to keep in mind the interest and one and all. Any action of the State should be a balancing one and therefore, a basic rational approach is required. Unfortunately, the distributory justice appears to be missing.”

He pointed out that another Division Bench led by Justice V. Ramasubramanian, now a Supreme Court judge, had in 2015 dealt with the same issue in detail and ruled against following the roster system for fixing seniority. To circumvent that decision, the government had inserted the provisions under challenge in the 2016 Act and it is nothing but “legislative arbitrariness,” he added.

After declaring the provisions as unconstitutional, the judges directed the government to redraw the seniority as per the present judgment within 12 weeks.

IIT-M student’s father demands a fair probe 

Abdul Latheef meets CM, DGP; raises doubts about death

16/11/2019 , Special Correspondent, CHENNAI 


 
Abdul Latheef, father of Fathima, handing over a memorandum to the Chief Minister on Friday.

Abdul Latheef, father of Fathima Latheef, the first- year student who was found dead last Saturday on the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) campus, raised suspicions over her death and demanded a probe to bring out the truth.

Mr. Latheef, accompanied by a few others, met Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami at his residence and appealed to him for a fair probe into his daughter’s death. The Chief Minister reportedly assured him that a probe would be conducted and the guilty brought to book.

Earlier, after meeting Director-General of Police (DGP) J.K. Tripathy at the State police headquarters, Mr. Latheef said the DGP assured him that the culprits would be brought before the law. The Kerala Chief Minister and the DGP of that State had contacted Mr. Tripathy and urged that the accused be arrested at the earliest to ensure that such crimes were not committed against any other girl.

Mr. Latheef said in one of the notes in her phone, his daughter blamed a professor of Humanities for her drastic step. He wanted the professor arrested. He said his daughter was frightened of the professor. It was difficult for her to attend class. She did not even go to collect her answer sheets. “I have doubts about her death. The CCTV footage has not been given to us yet. Where did she find the rope that was found in her room? After her death too, people have entered the room. We are not sure if Fathima was killed or it was suicide. I am a helpless man from Kerala and I want all your support. Only a thorough investigation can bring out the truth,” said Mr. Latheef.

“One more Fathima should not happen in this country. No person with such potential or calibre should die like this. Was she killed or was it a suicide? The media should find out,” he said.

Meets Stalin

Mr. Latheef met DMK president and Leader of Opposition in Assembly M.K. Stalin and sought his support in the matter. DMK students’ wing staged a protest on Friday in front of the IIT campus, demanding that persons responsible for Fathima’s death be arrested.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Meghalina, who is the chief investigation officer, visited IIT and began the probe.

Tamil Maanila Congress leader G.K. Vasan said in Tiruchi on Friday that a proper investigation should be conducted into Fathima’s death. He said steps should be taken to make sure those responsible for her death were brought to book.

Can’t make public steps related to 2017 R.K. Nagar bribery case, EC tells HC 

FIR was quashed by a single judge of the court without poll panel’s knowledge

16/11/2019 , Legal Correspondent, CHENNAI

The Election Commission (EC) on Friday told the Madras High Court that it cannot make public the steps being taken by it with regard to the 2017 Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar bypoll bribery case First Information Report (FIR), which got quashed by a single judge of the court without its knowledge.

A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and M. Nirmal Kumar was told by Niranjan Rajagopalan, standing counsel for EC, that his instructions were that for the present, the commission did not want to disclose details in public though it had submitted all requisite information for the exclusive perusal of the court.

The submissions were made when senior counsel P. Wilson, representing N. Maruthu Ganesh, the DMK candidate during the 2017 bypoll, insisted that the EC, Income Tax department as well as the police should be ordered to make public all documents related to the issue on hand.

“They want to keep everything top secret. In a democracy, there should be some transparency. We want to know what is happening. They cannot withhold all important documents and ask me to argue this case. They are not revealing crucial information,” senior counsel argued after filing a memo insisting upon disclosure of all documents.

The EC had rescinded the bypoll in April 2017 after the I-T sleuths raided several places and seized crucial documents from the residence of the Health Minister. The documents were related to ₹89.65 crore having been reportedly given to various Ministers, including Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, for distribution among voters of R.K. Nagar.

Then, AIADMK had fielded T.T.V. Dhinakaran as its candidate in the constituency. Though an FIR was registered by the Abhiramapuram police here at the instance of the EC with regard to seizure of money, it got quashed by a single judge of the High Court in March 2018 without the commission’s knowledge.

Hence, Mr. Ganesh had approached the court insisting upon a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the entire issue. During the course of hearing of the case on Friday, Justice Sathyanarayanan pointed out that former AIADMK Minister V. Senthil Balaji, who was also allegedly involved in the distribution of money, had now swiched to the DMK.

Later, he granted time till December 18 for the EC to file its reply to the memo preferred by Mr. Ganesh.