Recent SC verdicts rein in constitutional authorities
‘They should be neutral, objective’

01/12/2019, KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL,NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court, through its back-to-back decisions in November while resolving the political crises in Maharashtra and Karnataka, has sent a strong message to high constitutional authorities who shed their neutrality to favour party politics in States.

The court has highlighted the need for authorities like the Speaker and the Governor to be faithful to constitutional morality and not vacillate under “prevailing political pressures”.

The court has made it clear that as “the sentinel on the qui vive of the Constitution, it is under obligation to see that the democracy prevails and not gets hollowed by individuals”.

In its November 26 order in the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine’s petition against the Governor’s decision to appoint the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra, the Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana agreed to judicially examine the extent of a Governor’s ‘satisfaction’ on who commands the majority to form the government.

Justice Ramana wrote that these were issues “touching upon the democratic bulwark of our nation”.

The order was preceded by a November 13 judgment based on a bunch of petitions filed by 17 former dissident JD(S)-Congress Karnataka legislators against the Speaker’s decision to disqualify them for defection.

“In order to uphold the Constitution, we need to have men and women who will make a good Constitution such as ours, better,” Justice Ramana, had observed.

“If Speaker is not able to disassociate from his political party and behaves contrary to the spirit of the neutrality and independence, such person does not deserve to be reposed with public trust and confidence,” Justice Ramana wrote.

Probe sought into ‘sabotage’ of Vande Bharat Express

Railways planning global tenders for 160 coaches

01/12/2019, S. VIJAY KUMAR , ,CHENNAI

Work stalled: Train18 project got derailed after allegations surfaced over procedural flaws in the award of tenders.

In a twist to the ongoing controversy over halting production of Train18 coaches at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) here, a top railway official has written to Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav demanding an enquiry into the ‘sabotage’ of the Vande Bharat Express project.

Chief Administrative Officer, Rail Wheel Plant, Bela, Shubhranshu, who played a key role as the Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer in rolling out the indigenously built Train18 in record time, has expressed concern over the vigilance enquiry against almost all the senior officials of Team Train18 and alleged that efforts were on to implicate officers in some case or the other.

“The purpose [of enquiry] seems to be to sabotage the indigenous train forever and to kill the initiative...I, as the builder of the Vande Bharat Express, a senior government official and a concerned citizen of India, demand a vigilance enquiry into this sabotage of the Vande Bharat Express, air-conditioned Electrical Multiple Units (EMUs) and Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMUs),” he said.

The letter of Mr. Shubhranshu, an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers, came at a time when the Ministry of Railways plans to float global tenders to procure 16 train sets (160 coaches) for the trains.

The Team ICF manufactured Train18 in a record 18 months, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi between New Delhi and Varanasi in February. The second rake was launched between New Delhi and Katra later.

Successful initiative

Though celebrated as one of the most successful products of the “Make in India” initiative and orders placed for making dozens of train sets, the project got derailed after allegations surfaced over procedural flaws in the award of tenders. The Vigilance Directorate registered cases against almost all the senior engineers involved in the making of the train.

“It is over six months now that the Vigilance has been going through the Train18 files of ICF with a fine tooth comb, but has found nothing incriminating. What started as accusations of violating procedures against the innovative, bold and nationalistic team of ICF later evolved into a full bloom vigilance enquiry,” he said.

Though the Express has been running successfully since its launch, it was alleged that the engineers compromised on safety aspects by not obtaining the sanction of the Research Designs and Standards Organisation of the Railways.

Soon after halting the work on making more rakes and transferring out some top officials involved in the making of Train18, the ICF was told to refer the design to the RDSO for approval.

Import order

The revised specifications of the self-propelled train set, Mr. Shubhranshu argued, would narrow down the competition and make the playing field more uneven. “I have learnt that an import proposal for 60 train sets has been made costing over ₹25,000 crore citing delay in the production of Vande Bharat in ICF. So, what started as an enquiry into alleged corruption in ICF and what intended to create more competition and level playing field has turned out into a sinister exercise to import when we should have been proudly exploring export markets. I feel that this enquiry into the so-called irregularities was designed to sabotage the greatest Make in India’ success story,” he said in his letter.

Officials who were part of Team18 project say the new design and specifications would result in a sharp increase in the cost of procuring the train sets involving global manufacturers.

RMO of CMCH R. Soundravel retires

01/12/2019, STAFF REPORTER,COIMBATORE

R. Soundravel, who worked as the Resident Medical Officer (RMO) of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) since 2015 was relieved from the post on Saturday owing to his retirement from the Tamil Nadu Medical Services.

After completing post-graduation in general medicine from Madurai Medical College in 1990, he joined Government service in 1991 and worked at the primary health centre at Arisipalayam in Coimbatore for 12 years. Dr. Soundravel joined CMCH in 2002 as assistant professor in general medicine.

He worked as Assistant RMO of the hospital from 2005 and was elevated as RMO in 2015. Despite various recognitions received during his service, Dr. Soundravel was known for his humanitarian approach towards patients and the needy, especially those from poor economic background.

New sitting arrangement at High Court Bench

01/12/2019, STAFF REPORTER ,MADURAI

A new set of judges will preside over the court proceedings at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court from December 2.

Justice M. Duraiswamy will be the Administrative Judge of the High Court Bench for the next three months. A Division Bench of Justices M. Duraiswamy and T. Ravindran will hear public interest litigation petitions, all Division Bench writ and appeal matters, criminal contempt and appeals relating to orders in contempt proceedings.

After Division Bench sitting, Justice M. Duraiswamy will hear old writ petitions and Justice T. Ravindran civil revision petitions of 2014.

A Division Bench of Justices T. Raja and B. Pugalendhi will hear habeas corpus petitions, all criminal appeals and criminal cases to be heard by a Division Bench, including crime against women and children. After Division Bench sitting, Justice T. Raja will hear old civil revision petitions and Justice B. Pugalendhi criminal original petitions and writ petitions (Cr.P.C.) of 2017.

Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana will hear writ petitions relating to motor vehicles, motor vehicle tax, all other taxes and duties, export and import, customs and Central excise, prohibition and State excise, mines and minerals, forest and industries.

Justice S.S. Sundar will hear writ petitions relating to general miscellaneous, education, land reforms, land tenancy, land ceiling, land acquisition and other land laws.

Justice R. Subramanian will hear second appeals from 2015, civil miscellaneous second appeals, company appeals, transfer civil miscellaneous petitions and civil revision petitions up to 2013.

Justice J. Nisha Banu will hear writ petitions relating to labour and service up to 2015. Justice M.S. Ramesh will hear writ petitions relating to labour and service from 2016 and writ petitions relating to Freedom Fighters Pension Scheme.

Justice N. Sathish Kumar will hear first appeals and second appeals up to 2014. Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira will hear criminal original petitions and writ petitions (Cr.P.C.) from 2018.

Justice G.R. Swaminathan will hear criminal original petitions, anticipatory bail petitions and bail petitions, writ petitions (Cr.P.C.) up to 2016.

While Justice R. Tharani will hear civil miscellaneous appeals and civil revision petitions from 2015, Justice T. Krishnavalli will hear criminal appeals, including appeals relating to crime against women and children, and criminal revision petitions from 2015.

Justice M. Nirmal Kumar will hear criminal appeals, including appeals relating to crime against women and children, and criminal revision petitions up to 2014, CBI and Prevention of Corruption Act cases.

HC comes to rescue of real life ‘Encounter Ekambaram’

It upholds quashing of disciplinary action against policeman

01/12/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

In an unusual reversal of real life imitating celluloid, a soft hearted policeman, much like Vadivelu as the iconic ‘Encounter Ekambaram’ in the 2007 Arjun-starrer Marudhamalai, was cleared of charges of indiscipline by a bench of the Madras High Court earlier this week.

To the uninitiated, comedian Vadivelu as ‘Encounter Ekambaram’ holds a special place among his fans for his role as Head Constable who often gets into trouble due to his antics. In one hilarious scene, ‘Encounter’ Ekambaram empathises with a criminal, who says he wants to meet his mother before being produced in court for remand, and ends up letting him escape. Needless to say, the soft touch Head Constable is punished by his superiors.

An identical incident came up before the first Division Bench of the Madras High Court, led by Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Subramonium Prasad, during the hearing of a writ appeal preferred by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Thanjavur Range, challenging a single judge’s order.

The case related to punishment imposed by the department more than a decade ago on police constable M. Kulothungan, for having allowed an accused in his custody to have food at a private person’s place while being taken to court. The constable was also charged with having allowed some persons to garland the accused. The constable had filed a writ petition way back in 2006 challenging the punishment imposed on him. After about four years, Justice D. Hariparanthaman (since retired) had allowed the writ petition on January 25, 2010 and set aside the punishment. While allowing the case, the single judge had come to a conclusion that the departmental inquiry proceedings were severely vitiated on account of the inquiry officer having relied on material that had been collected by the police department behind the constable’s back to hold him guilty.

Aggrieved over the single judge’s decision, the DIG as well as the Thajavur Superintendent of Police had preferred a writ appeal in 2011. However, the appeal had gathered dust for about eight years until it was taken up for final disposal this week by the first Division Bench which upheld the single judge’s decision. The Chief Justice’s Bench was of the view that the inquiry officer ought not to have relied upon the report of a preliminary inquiry, which was conducted without the knowledge of the constable, to hold him guilty. “This was in clear violation of principles of natural justice,” the Bench said while dismissing the appeal.

“This procedure, in our opinion, was clearly faulty. It was not open to the disciplinary authority to have indicted the respondent on the strength of some evidence collected behind his back,” the judges opined.

Pilot did grass-landing in B’luru at 155m visibility

SwathyR.Iyer@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:1.12.2019

On November 11, when a GoAir flight veered off the runway and landed on grass at Bengaluru airport, the visibility was only 155 metres. However, as per norms, it should be at least 550 metres for the Air Traffic Control (ATC) to give a go-ahead for landing, airport sources said.

It was a scary experience for 180 passengers on board G8 811 from Nagpur to Bengaluru at 7.30am. Sources said “as the pilot was approaching the runway, visibility dropped to around 155 metres, which is not suitable for landing a plane”. After veering off the runway at Kempegowda International Airport, it took off and landed at Hyderabad, allegedly without keeping ATC in the loop immediately.

On November 11, operations of 56 other flights were disrupted due to dense fog and low visibility at the airport.

An inquiry ordered by aviation regulatory authority Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) into the incident is still under progress.

RISKY: The pilot took off soon after the flight veered off into the runway and went over the grass on November 11

2 Kerala techies found hanging after family says no to marriage over caste difference

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru1.12.2019

 Two techies from Kerala allegedly killed themselves near Electronics City in Hebbagodi police limits following alleged parental opposition to their marriage. Their bodies, found hanging from a tree on November 29, were in a highly decomposed state.

The deceased have been identified as Abhijit Mohan, 25, and Srilakshmi S, 21. Both worked as junior software engineers with an IT major in Electronics City Phase II.

Since October 9, the duo had stopped accepting calls from their family members. After complaints were filed, police launched a search operation, but could only trace the couple’s mobile tower locations in Bengaluru. On November 23, a distraught Srilakshmi called and “thanked” her family for “troubling” them. Six days later, a shepherd found their bodies hanging from a tree.

Hailing from Thrissur in Kerala, the two had joined the IT major over a year ago. They were staying in different paying guest (PG) accommodations in Parappana Agrahara area. According to police, Abhijit and Srilakshmi were in love and wanted to get married. However, their families were against the relationship allegedly due to the caste difference. “The duo tried their best to convince the family members, but in vain. Srilakshmi’s uncle had threatened them with dire consequences,” police said, quoting their friends and colleagues.

In the first week of October, the duo had communicated to their families that they were marrying each other. “It caused a stir. Srilakshmi’s uncle allegedly threatened her that anything could happen if they chose to marry. He even warned of breaking the relationship,” sources said.

Full report on www.toi.in

Abhijit Mohan and Srilakshmi