HC comes to rescue of Karnataka student

HC comes to rescue of Karnataka student

It tells CBSE to declare result; Board had asked her to reappear for Biology paper

11/10/2020

An extreme penalty violates the rule of proportionality, the High Court ruled.

Special Correspondent Bengaluru

Observing that “a tender age student, even when delinquency is established, cannot be treated as an offender of the war crime,” the Karnataka High Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to immediately announce the result of a student of Class XII, who was asked to reappear for an exam in one of the subjects, without announcing the result, for carrying a mobile phone inside the examination hall on March 14.

Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Shuchi Mishra, who had appeared for the CBSE Class XII main examinations in Bengaluru.

The court directed the CBSE to immediately announce the results for the Biology exam.

The court, from the records, found that the petitioner had inadvertently carried a mobile phone inside the exam hall and had handed it over to the invigilator just before commencement of the exam, but the CBSE had treated her case as “unfair means” for “using mobile phone during examination”.

“The student’s assertion that she had deposited the mobile at 9.55 a.m., that is prior to commencement of examination, to the centre invigilator becomes evident by the fact that it was sent to her school, which in turn delivered it back to her after examination and on the same day,” the court observed.

The court also noted that the CBSE committee had not made any effort to view video footage of the exam hall, with every hall under electronic surveillance, and had denied a personal hearing to the student.

Pointing out that there was no allegation that the petitioner had clandestinely stored the examination material in the said phone for making “unfair use” of the same, the court said, “though a student is expected not to carry such instrument into the exam hall but human fallibility, more particularly in case of children going to exam with associated anxiety, needs to be kept in mind, as an extreme penalty cancelling exam violates the rule of proportionality and it shakes the consciousness of the court, to say the least.”

Courts can’t meddle in food habits: SC

Courts can’t meddle in food habits: SC

13/10/2020

Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Monday said courts cannot meddle in the food habits of people.

A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul was hearing a petition filed by Akhand Bharat Morcha for ban on halal form of slaughter. “Court cannot determine who can be a vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Those who want to eat halal meat can eat halal meat. Those who want to eat jhatka meat can eat jhatka meat,” the court said orally.

The petition raised a challenge against Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act which allows slaughter of animals in a manner consonant to one’s religion.

The petition argued that halal manner of slaughter is painful and amounts to cruelty. Whereas jhatka — which is a single fatal blow — is painless.

The court said the petition was filed with “mischievous” intention and dismissed it.

E-registration will replace e-pass, govt. tells court

E-registration will replace e-pass, govt. tells court

Passes will still be needed to visit hill stations

14/10/2020

Legal Correspondent CHENNAI

The State government has decided to replace the existing system of issuing e-passes to those travelling from other States or countries with e-registration, Advocate General Vijay Narayan told the Madras High Court on Tuesday.

The Advocate General told the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy that the restrictions on visits to hill stations alone would continue, since those places were short on medical infrastructure.

After hearing him, the judges directed the State government to write to the Centre seeking a clarification as to whether imposition of such restrictions could continue on visits to hill stations and then publicise the reply through the media.

‘Basic details’

According to the A-G, the e-registration would require travellers to provide only basic details for the purpose of contact tracing.

On the other hand, e-passes to hill stations would be issued only to those who have an address there and not to tourists.

Unlike the plains, the medical facilities in hill stations were very limited. Hence, permitting tourists might lead to a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases and they might not be able to cope with such a situation, he said.

Self-regulation

The A-G also said at present, the only way to contain the spread of the pandemic was through self-regulation. Yet, people did not seem to understand the importance of wearing masks and maintaining physical distance, he said.

He also brought it to the notice of the court that the number of new COVID-19 cases had been limited to 5,000 every day due to effective steps taken by the government, as against Kerala where the numbers had now risen to as high as 10,000 cases a day. Concurring with the A-G, the Chief Justice said people were indeed moving around in public places without masks as if the disease had vanished. He said people could feel safe only when a vaccine comes out.

Congress is a party without mental growth, says Kushboo

Congress is a party without mental growth, says Kushboo

The former Congress spokesperson had joined the BJP on Monday

14/10/2020

New role: Kushboo addressing the media in Chennai on Tuesday. R. Ragu

Special CorrespondentCHENNAI

The Congress is a party that has no thinking capacity and no mental development, former spokesperson of the party Kushboo Sundar, who joined the BJP, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to presspersons at the Chennai airport, Ms. Kushboo hit out at Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri for his statement that the Congress had seen her only as an actor and that she did not have any thinking capability.

“One leader [L. Murugan] is trying to build a party convincing people that the BJP alone can do good for the country. Another leader [Alagiri] says I don’t have intelligence. So they came to know after six years of my hard work for the Congress that I don’t have intelligence?” Ms. Kushboo asked.

‘No criticism allowed’

She also said no one could criticise anything within the Congress party. “That’s a party where no one can even make criticisms internally. How can such a party be good for the country?” she asked. When presspersons asked if she would be able to make internal criticisms in the BJP, she said she believed that it was possible. “I have confidence that the BJP will not be like that [the Congress]. I will answer when that sort of a situation [where internal criticism is not allowed] arises,” she said.

Ms. Kushboo also said that her job as the opposition spokesperson was to criticise the government and its schemes as, politically and democratically, having an opposition is good for the country. “But I supported the NEP [National Education Policy] and the abolition of triple talaq. You cannot criticise everything just for the sake of being the opposition,” she said.

She further added that she had carried out her job as opposition spokesperson to the best of her abilities when she was with the Congress. “I was loyal to that party till the last day I was there,” she said.

On Mr. Alagiri’s criticism that she joined the BJP at the behest of her husband, director Sundar C., reportedly due to financial problems, she asked whether people had ever seen him at any of the events with her. “There is no such issue. The fact that they are making all these allegations show how terrible they are,” she said.

Actor says Raghavendra Mandapam has been vacant during the lockdown

Rajinikanth moves HC against tax demand

Actor says Raghavendra Mandapam has been vacant during the lockdown

14/10/2020

Rajinikanth

Mohamed Imranullah S. CHENNAI

Actor Rajinikanth has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court challenging the demand of property tax to the tune of ₹6.50 lakh for his Raghavendra marriage hall located at Kodambakkam here.

His case against the demand made by the Greater Chennai Corporation for the half-yearly period, from April to September, has been listed for admission before Justice Anita Sumanth on Wednesday.

According to the case filed by the actor, through his counsel Vijayan Subramanian, he had been paying property tax regularly for the marriage hall.

The tax was paid last on February 14.

Subsequently the pandemic broke out, forcing the Centre and State governments to impose a lockdown. As a result, his marriage hall had remained vacant and was not rented to anyone since March 24.

In such circumstances, the actor received a property tax invoice from the Corporation on September 10, asking him to pay ₹6.50 lakh as property tax for the months April through September.

Cancellations

Stating that he had cancelled all bookings for his marriage hall after March 24 and even refunded the advance money in accordance with the government instructions, the actor said he was entitled to vacancy remission on property tax.

He pointed out that Section 105 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 provides for remission of tax if the premises remained vacant for over 30 days and insisted on according the benefit to him. The actor also said he had sent a notice in this regard to the Corporation on September 23 but there was no reply till

Dalit girl from Anitha’s village to study medicine

Dalit girl from Anitha’s village to study medicine

14/10/2020

R. Rajaram TIRUCHI

Three years after S. Anitha of Kuzhumur in Ariyalur district ended her life, unable to get an MBBS seat through NEET, the dream of another girl hailing from the village of studying medicine has become a reality.

Daughter of daily wage earners Shankar and Dhanalakshmi, S. Soundarya will fly to the Philippines to pursue medical education free of cost at Davao Medical Education School Foundation, thanks to a private sponsor. Besides the expenditure for her education, her boarding, food and transport expenses during the period of her study will be sponsored by Transworld Educare Private Limited.

Soundarya’s ambition to become a doctor came to be known to Anitha’s brother S.A Manirathnam, who is running a charitable trust in memory of his sister at the village. “The medical institute’s office at Mahabalipuram near Chennai, which wanted to help a poor girl pursue medicine in memory of Anitha, got in touch with me. That was when I told them about Soundarya’s ambition and her poor economic background,” said Mr. Manirathnam, managing trustee of Dr. Anitha Memorial Charitable Trust.

A representative from the institute in Chennai came to Kuzhumur a few days ago and interacted with Mr. Manirathnam and Ms. Soundarya to ascertain the girl’s wish. Ms. Soundarya had completed Plus Two in a higher secondary school at Kuzhumur with 410 out of 600 marks.

Presumed dead, relatives put aged man in freezer

Presumed dead, relatives put aged man in freezer

He was found alive, rescued

14/10/2020

STAFF REPORTER SALEM

An elderly man who was presumed dead by relatives was put in a freezer for over 12 hours, before being rescued by emergency responders here.

According to police, Balasubramania Kumar (74) lives with his sibling, Saravanan, and the latter’s family near Kandhampatti.

Mr. Kumar was undergoing treatment for various age-related ailments and his health condition had deteriorated on Monday.

Taking him for dead, Saravanan ordered for a freezer box and placed the “body” in it around 9 p.m on Monday and made arrangements for funeral on Tuesday.

However, the persons who came to collect the freezer box on Tuesday found Mr. Kumar’s toes moving and alerted the police and 108 ambulance service.

Medical technicians in the ambulance checked Mr. Kumar’s pulse and found him to be alive.

He was then rushed to Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital and rescued. Sooramangalam police are investigating.

Family members reportedly told the police that they thought he was dead, and, therefore put him in the freezer.