MSU Registrar asked to forward harassment complaint to police
High Court directs police to conclude probe within three months

11/02/2020, STAFF REPORTER,MADURAI

Allowing the petition filed by a woman, who was a student of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli, alleging that she was sexual harassed by an Assistant Professor in 2015, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed Tirunelveli police to register a complaint and conduct an investigation.

The woman, in her petition, alleged that Assistant Professor Vinod Vincent Rajesh of History Department had sexually harassed girl students.

Following a complaint filed by the woman and a some other students, a committee was constituted by the university to look into the charges and he was placed under suspension.

The committee found him guilty and the Syndicate passed a resolution accepting the report of the committee.

However, he was reinstated later. The period of his suspension was treated as punishment and two increments with cumulative effect were stopped.

Rajesh was also warned not to repeat such act in the future, the petitioner said. However, the action of the university had been insufficient.

It had failed to forward the complaint to the jurisdictional police, the woman said.

Section 11 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, mandated that the local committee should, if prima facie case existed, forward the complaint to the police.

Justice G.R. Swaminathan directed the Registrar of the university to forward the complaint along with committee’s report to the police.

Tirunelveli Police should register an FIR on the complaint and conclude the investigation within three months, the court said.

Pilot suspended for threatening passenger

75-year-old woman denied wheelchair

11/02/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

A woman and her mother were stopped from deplaning the aircraft.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday suspended the flying licence of an IndiGo pilot for three months for “threatening and intimidating” a woman passenger accompanying a wheelchair-bound senior citizen on January 13, 2020.

“The pilot’s attitude towards the wheelchair-bound senior citizen was intimidating, threatening and lacked compassion. His actions led to avoidable detention,” the DGCA said in a statement.

Sharing her ordeal of “harassment” on Twitter, Bengaluru resident Supriya Unni Nair said the pilot, Captain Jayakrishna stopped her and her 75-year-old mother from deplaning the aircraft after she insisted on a wheelchair for the latter. The wheelchair had been booked by her before embarking on the flight but the crew members said they had no access to it, leading to an argument.

Civil Aviation Minister of State Hardeep Singh Puri, taking note of her social media post, asked the DGCA to probe the matter.

Patient under observation at Stanley Hospital

11/02/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Only one patient continues to be under observation in the isolation ward of Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.

The other patient, who was admitted at the government medical college hospital in Tiruchi, was discharged.

According to a bulletin released by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine on Monday, a total of 27,702 passengers were screened at airports in the State.

Of them, 1,927 were under home quarantine for 28 days.

All 42 nasal, throat swabs and blood samples taken from symptomatic patients have tested negative for novel coronavirus.

Governor lauds TN govt

TNN | Feb 10, 2020, 04.50 AM IST

Salem: The Tamil Nadu government’s efforts have resulted in the highest gross enrolment ratio in higher education amongst all states in India at 49.3%, said governor Banwarilal Purohit.

Participating in the golden jubilee celebrations of Sri Vidya Mandir Association at Sri Vidya Mandir Higher Secondary School in Salem on Sunday, the governor said that the state government has opened new colleges, commenced new courses, invested in improving infrastructure, created more posts of teachers and filled teacher vacancies to make higher education more accessible and to enhance quality.

He also lauded the private sector for achievement of Tamil Nadu in academic arena.

“The contribution of the private sector for promoting the cause of education has also been commendable. Many philanthropic trusts have come forward to set up schools, colleges and universities in the state,’’ he said. Appreciating the educational institutions for laying stress in inculcating skills required for employment, the governor said that the students too are bright enough to expect the education system to equip and stir their creative side.

TNGCTA wants full-time research director at BDU

TNN | Feb 10, 2020, 04.31 AM IST

Trichy: The Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association (TNGCTA) has demanded appointment of a full-time research director at the Bharathidasan University as it is hampering research activities..

The university had taken multiple steps to speed up evaluation of PhD thesis and award of degrees without delay by creating a separate research wing in March 2018. “But many such measures on part of the university did not yield much results as it has not appointed a full-time research director,” said P David Livingstone, secretary, TNGCTA Trichy zone.

“Research director (in-charge) S Muthusamy is also heading the chemistry department of the university and only comes to the research section in the evening which is resulting in delay. Despite automation of the research sections, many of the PhD scholars and guides are asked to come in person to clarify many trivial issues,” he said.

A government college faculty member had allegedly applied for research guideship in 2018. While she was qualified for guideship at that point, the university delayed the award of guideship for two years. Now the university is deny guideship to the faculty citing new UGC norms.

“It is unfair on part of the university to delay the award of guideship in 2018 and ask the faculty member to fulfil the requirement based on the recent orders of the UGC,” said Livingstone

Speaking to TOI S Muthusamy, said there may be exceptions, but all measures are being taken to fast track the research section. I am working in the section till late evening to clear files.

On the appointment of a full-time research director, Muthusamy said that university has taken steps and appointment will be made soon. “We have taken up the matter with vice-chancellor P Manisankar on many occasion but nothing has been done so far. Therefore, we have decided to carry out protest if the VC continues to remain a mute spectator,” said Livingstone.

BDU running distance courses sans UGC nod for five years

TNN | Feb 11, 2020, 04.38 AM IST

Trichy: Bharathidasan University (BDU) has been running distance education programmes for the last five years without the mandatory approval of the distance education bureau (DEB) of University Grants Commission. It has come to light that the university was unsuccessful in its attempts to secure the DEB nod, but chose to offer the programmes without it.

The university became eligible to offer programmes through distance mode after being accredited with A+ grade in April last year in the third cycle of national accreditation and assessment council (NAAC). It is also likely to secure DEB approval for offering such programmes in future. However, questions are now being raised about the validity of certificates issued over the last five years by the university without getting due approval. Roughly 50,000 students have graduated in various distance education programmes with degree certificates.

Asked if institutions can offer distance education programmes without getting approval from DEB, New Delhi, its joint secretary, Avichal Kapur, told TOI over phone that only category – 1 institutions can do so and BDU doesn’t come under it. This has put the candidates who secured distance education degrees from the university in trouble. “We have been trying to get everything under the legal framework and NAAC score will enable us to get approval for the course,” said A Ilangovan, director in-charge of the centre for distance education, BDU. He said they have approached the ministry of human resource development seeking retrospective approval for the programmes apart from writing to DEB. “We only wish that the university gets DEB approval retrospectively for courses offered over the last five years. But we are sceptical if DEB will do so as the university was disqualified for not being eligible to run these courses,” said K Pandiyan, former president, Association of University Teachers (AUT).

Another senior faculty member said DEB had asked to suspend some of the programmes offered by many universities. “BDU too has suspended those courses from this year as seen in its admission notification released recently,” asked the faculty member. Questions are also being raised about the university not mentioning the status of DEB approval in the admission notification issued on January 26. “The university managed to sweep under the carpet the status of its approval from DEB. If the university is sure about getting DEB approval in the next few weeks, what prevented it from mentioning the same in the admission notification,” said another faculty member.

Tamil Nadu nursing students register for jobs abroad

TNN | Feb 9, 2020, 04.03 AM IST

COIMBATORE: Earlier, T Meena, a final-year nursing student from Dharapuram in Tirupur, had no idea that she could become a nurse in a hospital in the United Kingdom (UK). However, after attending the Overseas Manpower Corporation Limited (OMCL)’s registration drive on Saturday she said she was now hopeful of becoming a nurse in the UK. “I think the prospects have widened,” she said.

Like Meena, around 200 final-year nursing students from Coimbatore, Ooty, Tirupur and Erode had gathered to enroll themselves with the OMCL, a state government undertaking, at the drive that it conducted at the district employment office on Mettupalayam Road in the city. They were seeking an opportunity to become nurses in England and Ireland, with a monthly pay of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh.

Representatives of OMCL said they had been facilitating jobseekers from the state to find jobs abroad for more than 40 years. B Somasundaram, recruitment coordinator, OMCL, said they have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Health Education England in the UK for sending 500 nurses from India to that country every year. “We would be offering the nurses free coaching for taking up the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam, which is a requisite for getting a job in the UK. We have tied up with the British Council for that.”

He said the first batch of candidates, around 15 people, have started training for the IELTS exam. “We would start sending nursing candidates to the UK in six months.”

Speaking about the process, Somasundaram said OMCL would register the candidates and upload their details online. After they take up the IELTS exam, their score would get uploaded on the portal. “Candidates would be tracked through an online application system. Following this, personnel from the UK would come down to interview and recruit them.”

A Jothimani, deputy director of employment, Coimbatore, said they have been planning to bring personnel from the British Council to the district employment office to train candidates. “This is the second registration drive after the one that we held last November. We had asked the nursing colleges in the region to send their students to the drive,” she said.

Candidates who were seeking skilled jobs such as electricians, technicians, plumbers and carpenters in the Middle East also took part in the drive.