Hang them or set them on fire: Kin of accused

Mom: Can’t defend my son after this, I’ll be hated by all

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:1.12.2019

Family members of the four men accused of raping and brutally murdering the 27-year-old veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad have said that they would not challenge if the court gives capital punishment to their sons.

Shyamala, mother of one of the accused C Chennakeshavulu, said, “Let him be hanged or set on fire like what they have done to the doctor,” she said.

Chennakeshavulu hails from Gudigandla village in Makthal mandal of Telangana’s Narayanpet district. After police took her son away on Thursday morning for questioning, Shyamala said her husband left home in disgust.

Shyamala said she could feel the pain the family of the veterinarian was going through. “I have a daughter and I know what the woman’s family must be suffering. If I defend my son after knowing that he has committed a heinous crime, people will hate me for the rest of my life.”

“Five months ago, we got him married to a girl of his choice. We have never put any pressure on him at home as he has been suffering from a kidney ailment. We were taking him to NIMS hospital in Hyderabad every six months for treatment,” she recalled.

Jollu Shiva and Jollu Naveen, who are among the accused, also hail from Gudigandla. The main accused, Mohammed Areef, belongs to Jaklair, a neighbouring village.

Areef’s mother Moole Bi was distraught when reporters spoke to her. Areef, driver of the lorry which was used to dispose of the body, came home after committing the crime. “He told me that a girl had died in an accident in which his lorry was involved,” she said.

His father Hussain said they had no idea about the crime that Areef was involved in. “Let him be given any punishment he deserves,” he said. Moole Bi said the other three suspects used to often visit their home.

People were agitated in both Gudigandla and Jaklair and said the shocking crime had brought shame to their villages. Locals and students took out rallies in both villages. Girl students, who participated in a rally at Jaklair, shouted slogans demanding stringent action .

₹440 crore GST fraud racket busted in Chennai, 1 held

Search On For Two More Accused

Sivakumar.B@timesgroup.com

Chennai:1.12.2019

The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence has busted a racket involving ₹440 crore GST fraud in Chennai. The racket involved issue of fake invoices, without the actual supply of goods. The fraudsters claimed input tax credit to the tune of ₹79 crore in the process.

The department has found the involvement of three people in the racket. While one of them has been arrested and remanded, others are absconding. “Preliminary investigation revealed existence of 54 bogus entities merely on papers. The modus operandi was to get PAN card and Aadhaar card from identity lenders and float several fictitious entities and register them under CGST Act using those documents,” said principal additional director general K Anpazhakan.

Searches conducted on several premises revealed that most of them were locked. There were no signs of any major business activity in those places. “In fact, one of the declared premises turned out to be a tea shop. The bogus entities were floated in several layers to create a complex network of transactions among themselves, including transfer of money into bank accounts to make them appear genuine so that the fake invoices reach the manufacturers,” said Anpazhakan.

The accused availed themselves of the fraudulent input tax credit without receipt of goods in question, which was metal scrap. “The contact details furnished for the purposes of registration with the GST department and opening of bank accounts were found to be relating to persons not connected with the above activities in any manner,” the ADG said.

The bank accounts were opened by the bogus entities using forged documents allegedly in connivance with the officials of private banks. “Investigation revealed that the conspiracy was hatched by three people, where one person had the role of creating fictitious entities which in turn issued fake invoices without actual supply of goods and another played the key role in identifying the recipients of fake invoices who actually availed the ineligible ITC,” said Anpazhakan.

Prabakar posted as home secretary

Chennai:1.12.2019

The state government on Saturday transferred principal secretary to highways and minor ports, S K Prabakar and posted him as secretary to the high-profile, home, prohibition and excise department. He replaced Niranjan Mardi, who retired on Saturday.

Prabakar, the 1989-batch officer hails from Tamil Nadu. He had a stint in public works department before moving to highways in September last year, the portfolios held by chief minister Edappadi K Palainswami. He also helmed commercial taxes and registration, information technology departments during Jayalalithaa’s regime. Prabakar was collector of Tiruvallur district during the DMK government and was secretary to former chief minister M Karunanidhi in his last tenure. TNN

New home secretary S K Prabakar with CM Edappadi K Palaniswami

TN ranked best in organ transplant for fifth time
Chennai:01.12.2019

The state health department has received the best performer award in organ donation for the fifth consecutive time. State health minister C Vijayabaskar received the award for the department at the 10th annual National Organ Day held in New Delhi.

One of the recipients of the double arm transplant, Narayanaswamy, lit the lamp during the inauguration of the award ceremony. Since 2008, the state has retrieved more than 1,000 organs from brain dead patients in various government and private hospitals. Though the number of donors had come down, the state has put most organs retrieved to judicial use. Besides topping the country’s list for maximum number of heart and lung transplants, the state has done pancreas, bowel and double hand transplants, health minister C Vijayabaskar said. TNN

Rain lashes Chennai, leaves several roads inundated

TNN | Dec 1, 2019, 04.39 AM IST

CHENNAI: If the intense spells of rain that lashed several places across the city over the last three days flooded streets, then according to the weatherman, more rain is in the offing. Meteorological department officials said the city could witness heavy spells till Monday.

IMD forecast for the city said, “Sky condition is likely to be cloudy. Moderate to heavy rain is likely to occur. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 30 C and 24 C,” for the next 48 hours.

The Met department warned of, “Scattered heavy with isolated very heavy rain over coastal and adjoining districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.” “What we are getting now is an easterly ‘pulse’. It’s a circulation in the easterly. It’s moving from east to west. As it moves, the rainfall intensity will reduce,” said N Puviarasan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre. “Rainfall would be mostly during the nights and early morning,” Puviarasan added.

Light to heavy spells lashed many city localities starting Friday night. After a break during the day, some places like Aminjikarai and Nungambakkam saw intermittent rain. Schools were closed in Chennai, Chengelpet, Pudukottai and Sivaganga on Saturday after rain on Friday night.

As of 8.30am on Saturday, Nungambakkam weather station recorded 20.2mm, while Meenambakkam registered 24.4mm. Between 8.30am and 8.30pm, the two stations recorded only 8.6mm and 11.7mm. After 9pm, heavy rain lashed certain areas, following which neighbourhoods, including Guindy, Vadapalani and T Nagar, witnessed inundation.

However, the Friday night rain left only some locations like Taramani waterlogged. Surprisingly, in flooding-prone areas such as Velachery, there was less inundation. While some residents attributed it to the storm water drain network built after the 2015 deluge, others said the intensity of rain this season has been less. R Ashok, a resident of VGP Selva Nagar Extension in Velachery, said, “We are surprised by the lack of flooding this monsoon in the area. But, we will have to see how the storm water drains hold up when the rain is heavy.”

Both rain and weekend crowd affected traffic movement in core locations like Anna Nagar, Nungambakkam and T Nagar. “It took 90minutes to reach T Nagar from Anna Nagar. Usually, it takes only half that time,” said Nirmala of Thirumangalam.

The rain brought down the deficit to 30% in the city and 2% in Tamil Nadu. After two days, rainfall is likely to start subside. “The decrease in rainfall would be due to the formation of a low pressure area over southeast Arabian Sea. Gradually it will move towards Lakshadweep and the moisture concentration and rain will be confined over this area,” said Skymet Weather.

UGC drafts regulations to control deemed university fees

Abhay Anand | Nov 28, 2019 - 3:39 p.m.

NEW DELHI: In continuation with its resolve to bring parity in fee structure in private aided and unaided institutions, the higher education regulator, University Grants Commission (UGC), has sought comments on a draft fee regulation policy for deemed-to-be universities.

Students and parents have been demanding regulation of the fees charged by some institutions, and also a ban on the practice of charging capitation fee. In February, the UGC issued new regulations for deemed-to-be universities – standalone institutions that enjoy many of the powers of a university but aren’t established through any state or central law. There are 127 deemed-to-be universities in the country.

The new policy set new guidelines for their functioning and says that no deemed-to-be university can collect more fees than what has been prescribed by the fee committee constituted as per the new regulations.

The UGC has given the public 15 days to comment on the draft policy, following which the Commission will start the process of creating fee committees.

The draft regulation proposes to establish “fee committees” to decide the fee structure of deemed-to-be universities. The fee will be decided on the basis of the institution’s location, the average per-seat cost and the quantum of government aid it is receiving.

The draft policy clearly states that “No institution shall charge capitation fee in any form or manner”. It also proposes a penalty for violating the regulations – a fine of up to Rs. 10 lakh.

It proposes different fee structures for different professional programmes.

Fee Regulation structure

With no uniformity in the fee structure of deemed institutions, it was found that institutions located in the same region were charging different amounts for the same programmes. The fee for engineering courses ranges from Rs. 7 lakh to Rs. 9 lakh, while that for medical courses, it its Rs. 20-25 lakh.

On receiving feedback from stake-holders, UGC will constitute fee committees to regulate the fees. As per the draft regulation, the committee will determine the fee structure of an institution considering the economic condition of the various social groups of that area. It will also increase or decrease the fees depending on whether the institutions get some form of aid from the government or not.

The operating costs of the institute –including staff salaries, contingency funds, administrative, laboratory and library costs – will also be factored in.

It has been stated in the draft that an institution will not be able to charge fees from a student for more than a semester or a year, depending on the calendar of the course.

The fee approved by the committee will be valid for a period of three years, after which a fresh review will be done to assess the situation.

Every institution will have to submit its fee structure for approval six months before the academic session starts.

Composition of Fee Committees

The draft proposes a five-member committee to be headed by a former Vice-Chancellor or former head of a regulatory body like the UGC. The other four members of the committee will include an eminent educationist who had achieved the rank of a professor, a nominee of a statuary national regulatory authority, an expert from the field of accountancy and an officer of the UGC.

Pvt Institutes To Charge Fee Semester Wise: UGC

UGC draft rules proposes fee fixation committee to regulate fee structure

By OB Bureau On Nov 28, 2019

New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has proposed to set up a high-powered committee to regulate the fee charged by private-aided and unaided institutes.

The fee approved by the five-member committee for each of the professional programmes and for different category of students will be communicated to the institutions well before the commencement of the admission process.

No institution shall charge capitation fee in any form, the draft UGC (Fees in professional education imparted by private-aided and unaided institutions deemed to be universities) Regulations, 2019 has said. The rules have provisions for more than one committee if required.

The commission, which examined the draft rules at a meeting in October this year, has put them in public domain for feedback from various stakeholders. The commission in its note has made it clear that no capitation fee shall be charged from a student, citing Supreme Court ruling in this regard.

The draft rule says that the institution shall charge from the student only the fee that has been approved by the committee.

Significantly, it makes it clear that lodging, boarding, transport, books etc shall be optional and not compulsory for students.

It further states that the approved fee shall be payable by the students at the time of admission for not more than one semester where the professional programme is semester-based. Likewise, where the programme follows an annual calendar, the fee shall not be charged for more than one year.

The return on investment or revenue surplus shall be utilised only for the development and expansion of the institution. It shall not be diverted or expanded for any other purpose.

According to the draft rules, the fee approved by the fee committee at any time shall be valid for three years. Any changes will come into effect at the time of new admission.

Composition of the committee:

An eminent educationist who has been a vice-chancellor or head of a statutory national regulatory body appointed by the UGC chairman

An educationist of eminence

A nominee of the statutory national regulatory authority

An expert with a standing of at least 10 years in the field of cost accountancy or institutional finance

An officer of UGC not below the rank of joint secretary.