HC relief for bus conductor

TNSTC had held him guilty of losing money after accident

27/12/2019, STAFF REPORTER ,MADURAI

Bringing relief to a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus conductor, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court set aside an order passed by the corporation against him. The transport corporation held him guilty of losing possession of the ticket collection amount after the bus was involved in an accident.

The court was hearing the petition filed by P. Rengaraj, who joined the TNSTC as a temporary bus conductor in 2009. His job was to be made permanent after the completion of 240 days of service. On his 240th day in service, the TNSTC bus he was attached to rammed into a stationary lorry near Ulundurpet.

The incident left many, including the petitioner, grievously injured. The conductor lost possession of the ticket collection amount among other belongings. A charge memo was issued against him for losing possession of the collection amount.

The explanation offered by the petitioner was rejected by the transport corporation. He was found guilty of losing possession of the collection amount and an order was passed to recover the lost amount from the petitioner. The petitioner challenged the order passed by the corporation.

Allowing the petition, Justice J. Nisha Banu observed that it was not a case of misappropriation of the money nor was it a case of negligence. The bus conductor himself had sustained injury in the accident. Therefore, the amount lost during the accident could not be recovered from the petitioner, the court said, and set aside the order passed by the TNSTC against him.

However, with regard to the relief sought by the petitioner on confirmation of job, the court granted liberty to the petitioner to move the labour court for appropriate remedy.

Senior citizens can withdraw postal deposits at any time

27/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Senior citizens who have deposited in postal saving schemes may now withdraw their deposits at any time. This is one among the changes made in saving schemes after the recent gazette notification brought out by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

Earlier, senior citizen account holders were allowed to opt for premature closure of their accounts only after a year of deposit. Following the gazette notification, the senior citizens’ saving scheme does not have any lock-up period. However, when an account is closed before one year, interest paid on the deposit will be recovered.

The changes are expected to increase the number of accounts. At present, there are nearly 1.09 lakh senior citizen postal account holders in the Chennai city region.

The previous revision for the scheme through a gazette notification was done in 2004. Similarly, changes were made to different postal saving schemes during various years, between 1981 and 2016. New forms have also been introduced for various transactions under the schemes, be it premature closure or withdrawal.

Sources said postal customers would have to increase their minimum balance in savings accounts within a year, after which a penalty of ₹100 per year would be levied. Earlier, customers could maintain a minimum balance of ₹50. It has now been revised to ₹500. This would bring down silent saving accounts and provide better interest rates on deposits, officials said.

UGC issues norms for ethics in higher education

Guidelines call for modesty, harmony

27/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, ,NEW DELHI

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank

Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Thursday launched new guidelines for values and ethics in higher education.

In a section on the role of different stakeholders, the guidelines prepared by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has the following advice for student unions: “Support the administration for right and timely decision [and] raise legitimate issues in dignified manner.”

The guidelines also call for students to “observe modesty in their overall appearance and behaviour”, “maintain good health and refrain from any kind of intoxicants” and “maintain harmony among students belonging to different socio-economic status, community, caste, religion or region”.

In another development, with regard to professional ethics, the UGC now requires all Ph.D. candidates to complete two compulsory credit courses on publication ethics from the coming academic session.

In a letter to all Vice-Chancellors, UGC secretary Rajnish Jain said the 30-hour courses would provide awareness on publication ethics, misconduct and research integrity.

Photos of NEET impersonators sent to MCI for verification

So far, CB-CID has arrested 12, including seven students and their parents

27/12/2019, SERENA JOSEPHINE M.,CHENNAI

Photographs of candidates, who were engaged as impersonators in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), have been sent to the Medical Council of India (MCI) to verify if they were students of any medical college in the country.

In September this year, the case of a student gaining admission to MBBS at the Government Theni Medical College by engaging an impersonator to clear NEET marked the beginning of a scam in the State. So far, the CB-CID, which is probing the NEET impersonation case, have arrested 12 persons — seven students and their parents. An intermediary (broker) was also arrested, while they are on the lookout for another intermediary, official sources said.

“The CB-CID police have sent a letter along with photographs of candidates, who impersonated in NEET, to MCI. Except for their photographs, we have no names and addresses of these candidates. So, the MCI should verify if these candidates are studying in undergraduate or postgraduate medical courses in any medical college in the country. This is because these candidates have cleared NEET,” an official said. MCI has to send these photographs to colleges to identify if these students were studying at the institutions.

The focus has turned on the impersonators as the police have nabbed almost all students and their parents involved in the case, he said. Most of the impersonators had appeared for the examination in NEET centres outside Tamil Nadu.

PG NEET list

In another development, the CB-CID has sought a list of candidates, who had appeared for NEET PG in the last two years from the Directorate of Medical Education. While the directorate is preparing the list, officials said the police as of now did not suspect impersonation. “The list was sought from the investigation point of view,” the official said.

Move to appoint honorary professors draws criticism

27/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

A move to appoint honorary professors in government medical colleges has drawn flak from a section of government doctors.

A three-member committee to frame guidelines and appoint honorary professors was constituted at the Madras Medical College/Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, based on instructions from the Directorate of Medical Education (DME).

24-hour duty

Already, the department’s instruction directing associate professors of general medicine, paediatrics, general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, anaesthesia and orthopaedics to perform 24-hour duty, citing a shortage of assistant professors, did not go down well with a section of doctors.

Now, the decision to appoint honorary professors has also evoked criticism.

“Why should the government appoint private doctors or retired doctors as honorary professors in medical colleges? Prior to the restructuring of doctors’ posts, we had no shortage of doctors,” a government doctor said, on condition of anonymity.

Madras varsity gets ₹24.15-crore grant

27/12/2019, R. SUJATHA,CHENNAI

Funds sought for building completion

The Higher Education Department has sanctioned a one-time grant of ₹24.15 crore to the University of Madras to complete a multi-storey building on its Taramani campus.

The building was commissioned during G. Thiruvasagam’s vice-chancellorship in 2010, and the construction contract was given to an outsider instead of the Public Works Department.

The construction was suspended in 2014 due to financial constraints in the university. The poor finances of the university did not allow it to take up the construction, and its requests for finance to complete the structure were on hold.

Last week, the government issued an order granting the funds in response to the registrar’s request for ₹31 crore. The G.O. stated that the one-time grant to complete the balance works of the building was approved based on the recommendation of the finance committee and the Syndicate in March.

The university has also sought a sanction of ₹35 crore as a one-time grant to pay the retirement benefits of the teaching and non-teaching staff.

“We are awaiting the government’s approval. Once that comes, the university’s financial problem will be solved. It will benefit around 145 persons,” university vice-chancellor Duraisamy said.

Recovery from police driver set aside

TNN | Dec 27, 2019, 04.47 AM IST

Madurai: Madras high court has set aside the order of recovery of money from a driver in the police department for causing an accident, saying it contradicts the authorities’ stand before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal.

Petitioner M Thangavel was driving a police van at Madurai on April 4, 2000 when a bullock cart suddenly came in the way leading to an accident which caused minor injuries to the cart rider. Though a criminal case was registered against the driver, he was acquitted after trial on March 8, 2002. The cart rider filed a petition in the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal seeking compensation. The tribunal in its order on January 25, 2011 awarded a compensation of Rs 32,300 with 7.5% interest to the bullock cart rider. The Tamil Nadu Special Police VI battalion commandant in Madurai subsequently passed an order on September 18, 2011 to recover the money from Thangavel but without hearing him. When Thangavel moved HC Madurai bench in 2011, the court on August 13, 2012 set aside the order but granted liberty to the authorities to proceed with the process by providing sufficient opportunity to the petitioner to explain. Subsequently, a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner in 2013 for which he submitted explanation. The tribunal concluded that the accident occurred due to negligence of the petitioner. Hence the authorities ordered on April 20, 2014 to recover the compensation of Rs 48,804 from the petitioner in instalments. Thangavel moved HC Madurai bench in 2014 challenging the recovery order.

Justice J Nisha Banu observed that a division bench of the court in an order on July 7, 1999 had held that the department’s action seeking recovery of the amount awarded by the tribunal from a driver is wholly unsustainable as the employer is bound to pay the compensation. The judge said in this case the petitioner was not added as a party to the tribunal’s proceedings and there was no clear finding in the departmental inquiry that he had driven the vehicle in a negligent manner. It was only based on the conclusion of the tribunal that the authorities had passed the order of recovery. “The authorities had taken a stand before the tribunal that the accident had not occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of the petitioner. Contrary to the same, now they cannot pass an order for recovery of amount from the petitioner,” observed the judge. Taking cognizance of the petitioner’s submission that he had now retired from service and the recovered amount is with the authorities concerned, the judge set aside the recovery order and directed to refund the amount within eight weeks.