Chain-snatching lands him in too many troubles

Chain-snatching lands him in too many troubles

18/10/2020

S. SundarMadurai

Nothing went right for the cargo autorickshaw driver S. Raja Mohammed (29) on his reported maiden attempt to snatch gold chain near Melur on Friday.

First, he chose a head constable to snatch the gold chain. Secondly, the anxious bike rider lost his mobile phone in his attempt to pull the chain. To add to his misery, he lost control of the two-wheeler and dashed against another vehicle only to be caught by the public.

Raja Mohammed of Kidaripatti followed T. Vidhya, 42, head constable, attached to District Crime Branch in Sivaganga district while she was returning home at N. Perumalpatti near Melur.

When she came near Ganapathipuram, the man managed to yank her six sovereign gold chain. The man did not know that he had targeted a police personnel as she was in her civvies. She raised an alarm. It made the thief anxious. His mobile phone fell down. He hardly crossed some 100 metres, his motorbike dashed against a vehicle. He fell down and fractured his left hand. He tried to run away but he was caught by the people.

“The alarm raised by the victim drew the attention of the people and that helped us to nab him,” Inspector of Police (Melur), S. Charles, said.

Even if he managed to flee from the scene, he would have been apprehended as his mobile phone and number plate of his vehicle had fallen down at the scene of crime.

The Melur police recovered the gold chain and seized the two-wheeler. Interrogation revealed that Raja Mohammed had resorted to make quick money as he had fallen in debts. After being provided first-aid at the Government Hospital in Melur, he was sent to remand on Saturday.

Use student funds to pay salaries, DU colleges told

Use student funds to pay salaries, DU colleges told

Principals, Teachers Say Order Illegal, Ask Govt To Reconsider

Mohammad.Ibrar@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:17.10.2020

The directorate of higher education has asked Delhi University colleges that are fully funded by the state government to use Student Society Fund (SSF) within two weeks if they can’t pay salaries to teaching and non-teaching staff due to a special audit and non-release of grants-in-aid. However, teachers’ and principals’ associations have again called the suggestion “illegal”.

In the order dated October 16, the colleges have been asked to use SSF till the audit is complete. This “has been done in the past”, it claims. The colleges had objected to a similar suggestion made by education minister Manish Sisodia last month.

Six of the 12 colleges fully funded by Delhi government are facing the audit for “financial irregularities” and haven’t paid salaries for over six months.

Hem Chand Jain, principal of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College that is undergoing the audit, said he would forward the order to DU to know if the order was binding.

“If this order is implemented, students will be deprived of funds for various activities. I request Delhi government to not ask us to do this as it would amount to cheating students,” Jain said. “We have only Rs 9.28 crore in our SSF, which would be enough to pay only three months’ salary.”

Jaswinder Singh, SGTB Khalsa College principal and president of DU Principals’ Association, said a principal was earlier removed for transferring funds. “CM Arvind Kejriwal should intervene and not force colleges to do something illegal.”

DU Teachers’ Association said using SSF was unacceptable. “Delhi government is pushing the burden of salaries on parents and students. Even in the past, if colleges were forced to use SSF for such purposes, the money was always returned to it.”

Balram Pani, dean of colleges at DU, said, “Colleges cannot use SSF. The order is not binding and the matter is already in court.”

Delhi government claimed the DDU College lawyer had told court they had paid salaries from SSF in the past. “When the judge asked him if they are allowed to do so, they said they need an official permission from the directorate of higher education,” it said.

However, Jain claimed “our lawyer said college can take loan for not more than a month from the fund”.

0 6  COLLEGES OF DU ARE FACING AUDIT

In a first, TN student among top 10 NEET rankers

In a first, TN student among top 10 NEET rankers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:17.10.2020

For the first time since the introduction of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS admissions seven years ago, a student from Tamil Nadu has broken into the top 10. Srijan R got the 8th rank nationally scoring 710 out of 720 marks. Two other candidates from the state, Mohanaprabha Ravichandran and G Swetha, scored 705 and 702 respectively and secured the 52nd and 62nd ranks. Last year, the state topper was Shruthi K, who scored 685 out of 720 marks and secured the 57th rank.

Of 1,21,617 students who had registered for the test from the state, 99,610 took it. Of them, 57,215 students (57.4%) qualified. Last year 48.5% qualified.

In 2019, the cut-off for MBBS admissions in government medical colleges went up by nearly 100 marks in most categories because of a surge in scores. Last year, the cut-off for OC category was 520 marks and for BC it was 470 marks. The cut-off for BCM and MBC was 458 marks and for SC category 360 marks. For SCA it was 301 and ST 267 marks.

Going by the high scores in NEET this year, the cut-off for medical admissions will likely increase.

This year’s state topper R Srijan, a native Vellakoil in Tirupur district, attended a coaching centre in Namakkal. Talking to reporters in Namakkal, Srijan said he has been passionate about medicine and wants to specialise in cardiology. Srijan had attempted NEET last year and appeared again this year to better his scores.

Mohanaprabha Ravichandran, who is also from the same coaching centre, emerged second in the state. Mohanaprabha said she wants to specialise in neurology.

N Jeevithkumar, a student of Tamil medium Government Model Higher Secondary School, Siluvarpatti, Theni district, has scored 664/720. He is the second student pursuing medicine from the school and has scored just over 99% in physics, chemistry and biology. He has secured the 1,823rd rank at the national level. His father K Narayanamoorthi rears goats for a living and his mother N Parameswari takes up work under the MNREGA. He had undergone NEET coaching in Namakkal district and this is his second attempt at NEET.

“Last year, the all-India topper scored 691 marks. This year, one of our students scored 700 out of 720 marks and he was ranked 105. So, it means that 105 students have scored above 700 and we expect more high scorers in NEET,” said Chandan Chand, regional director, Aakash Institute.

With inputs from Madurai and Coimbatore

N Jeevithkumar, government school student, scored 664/720

University of Madras facing an acute resource crunch

University of Madras facing an acute resource crunch

Without the sanctioned strength, many departments are on the verge of losing additional funding from the University Grants Commission

11/10/2020

Pon Vasanth B.A. CHENNAI

With 56% of faculty positions lying vacant, University of Madras (UoM) is facing an acute shortage in terms of human resources and potential decline in academic and research activities.

Data available with The Hindu showed that at least seven departments did not have a single full-time faculty member and 14 departments had more than 70% of their sanctioned posts vacant.

The shortage is acutely felt in the three Centres of Advanced Study (CAS) in Mathematics, Botany, Crystallography and Biophysics, which receive additional grants from the University Grants Commission (UGC), and are at risk of losing them without the minimum required faculty strength and research output.

Moreover, an analysis of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) data for the university showed that 50% of the roughly 80 professors are in the age group of 56 and above.

“If the vacancies are not filled in the near future, majority of the departments will not have a single Professor with retirements expected in the coming years,” a senior faculty member said. The last recruitment happened six years ago, but faced some allegations of irregularities.

G. Shanmugam, former Head of CAS in Crystallography and Biophysics and former university syndicate member, said the risk of losing CAS recognition by UGC was real. “We already lost it for the Department of Philosophy in the past,” he said.

The Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, one of the CAS, has a sanctioned strength of five professors, five associate professors, and 11 assistant professors. However, it presently has only seven assistant professors and not a single professor or associate professor.

The CAS in Botany with a sanctioned strength of 22 faculty members now has one professor and five assistant professors. Stating the department needed a minimum strength of six to maintain the CAS status, Mr. Shanmugam pointed out that N. Mathivanan, the professor and head of the department, is now holding the post of Registrar (in-charge) as well.

Similarly, the CAS in Crystallography and Biophysics had eight faculty members, which included a professor and seven assistant professors, against the sanctioned strength of 18. “The three CAS in the university had many stalwarts in the yesteryears. Now, many departments are not even able to fully utilise their research grants,” Mr. Shanmugam pointed out.

The head of one of the departments, said many departments with research potential were not able to apply for CAS status due to lack of minimum number of faculty. “When a university does not have adequate faculty members, it is not doing justice to its students,” he said.

In a competitive environment with rankings and accreditations, the university would not be able to maintain its status if it did not have competent faculty, who formed the core of the university system, he added.

Pointing out that over 50% of the non-teaching staff positions were also vacant, a Syndicate member said the financial crisis faced by the university had to be tackled with a long-term, sustainable solution.

“A key reason for not recruiting is the deep financial crisis with the university not in a position to even honour its commitments to pensioners. However, without enough faculty we are also losing out on grants from the UGC and the State,” he said.

Vice-Chancellor S. Gowri, who took charge in August, said he was studying the issue to explore possible options to address it.

Couple forge own death certificates - The Times Of India

Couple forge own death certificates - The Times Of India

LIC Agent And Wife Got ₹40L In Payouts

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:11.10.2020

In a unique case of cheating registered at Karanj police station on Friday, an insurance agent of LIC, Parag Parekh and his wife Manisha Parekh, both residents of Maininagar East, were arrested for allegedly forging death certificates of each other and obtaining the insurance settlement claims of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh.

Inspector D V Tadvi of Karanj police station said that they have arrested both accused after getting their Covid-19 tests done on Saturday evening.

According to the FIR lodged by senior manager Kaushik Shah of LIC at Jivan Prakash Building on Relief Road, Parekh had taken a term insurance policy in the name of his wife Manisha on January 1, 2012 for Rs 15 lakh and used to pay the premiums regularly.

On May 5, 2016, Parag produced a bogus death certificate of his wife and after primary investigation he was given the benefit of Rs 15 lakh.

Inspector Tadvi said that meanwhile Parag transferred his own policy of Rs 25 lakh to Gandhinagar branch in March 2017 and put his wife’s name as nominee.

“Here also his wife obtained a forged death certificate of his husband and produced the forged documents in the LIC office to obtain the benefits. According to our information his wife too has obtained the benefit of Rs 25 lakh,” added Inspector Tadvi.

According to the FIR, in the audit conducted in July 14, 2020 it came to light that after the faked death of his wife, Parag had put his wife’s name as nominee in his own LIC policy.

“Later an internal inquiry was ordered and the whole scam came to light. Based on the internal inquiry, LIC has registered a complaint with us. We have arrested the accused and produce them at the judge’s bungalow on Sunday,” said Inspector Tadvi.

Parag Parekh produced the bogus death certificate of his wife in 2016 and received Rs 15 lakh. He then transferred his policy to the Gandhinagar branch and named his wife as the nominee, and she submitted his ‘death certificate’

Doctors move HC for in-service quota in super-specialty courses -

Doctors move HC for in-service quota in super-specialty courses - 

The Times Of India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.10.2020

Citing a most recent constitution bench judgment of the Supreme Court, a group of Tamil Nadu government doctors has moved the Madras high court for notification of 50% of vacancies for in-service candidates for admission to super-speciality medical courses this year.

G Sankaran, counsel for assistant professors of Royapettah government hospital M Syed Fahrudeen and G Kumaravel, wanted the court to restrain the authorities from conducting first round online counselling for admission to DM/MCh courses in the academic session 2020-21 without earmarking 50% of seats for inservice candidates.

When the plea came up for hearing, advocate general Vijay Narayan submitted that a decision will be taken by the state government in this regard at the earliest. He further informed the court that the director general of health services has issued a circular dated October 8 postponing the online counselling till further orders.

Recording the submissions, Justice N Anand Venkatesh adjourned the plea to October 16 for the state to inform its stand.

Earlier, Sankaran contended that as per a Supreme Court order dated August 31, the state has legislative competence and authority to provide them a separate source of entry for in-service candidates seeking admission to PG degree courses. “Hence, the Tamil Nadu government is requested to revive the allotment of 50% seats in PG medical courses and superspeciality courses for in-service candidates to enable government doctors in the state to acquire higher qualification by getting admission under in-service quota,” Sankaran said.

According to the petitioners, in 2017 all the states including Tamil Nadu stopped providing in-service quota in PG medical courses in view of a Supreme Court order which held that states cannot provide such quota as the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000 does not even remotely indicate that a separate channel for admission into in-service candidates must be provided and 50% of seats are earmarked for PG diploma courses for in-service candidates.

Subsequently, the issue was referred to a larger bench which has now held that the state has power to provide in-service quota.

HC imposes cost on officials

HC imposes cost on officials

11/10/2020

Staff Reporter Madurai

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has imposed a cost of ₹10,000 each on the incumbent Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T. S. Selvavinayagam and the earlier incumbent K. Kulanthaisamy for filing misleading statements before the court.

Justice R. Suresh Kumar observed that the judicial time of the court was considerably consumed due to the misleading statements and if the Health Secretary had taken a decision to initiate disciplinary proceedings, the same shall be taken immediately.

The court was hearing the petition filed by B. Dinesh Kumar of Vadamadurai in Dindigul district. He sought appointment to a post of Health Officer that was lying vacant, through direct recruitment, following the resignation of an appointee.

The judge took cognisance of the fact that contradictory communications were made to the Health Secretary and the High Court. It was submitted before the court that the petitioner was not included in the list for consideration to the post, though he was on the list. The court directed the authorities to fill up the post of the Health Officer by issuing the order of appointment to the petitioner within two weeks. The Health Secretary shall inquire into why misleading statements were filed, the court said.