Ex-HC judge to begin AU investigation in a few days

Ex-HC judge to begin AU investigation in a few days

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.11.2020

The panel headed by Justice P Kalaiyarasan, the retired judge of the Madras HC, is likely to start its inquiry into the allegations of financial irregularities and abuse of power by Anna University vice-chancellor M K Surappa in a few days.

Justice Kalaiyarasan took over as inquiry officer on Monday. "Whoever has any information or evidence of financial irregularities in Anna University can directly give a complaint to the committee in writing. We will inquire about all complaints," the judge told reporters on Tuesday.

He further said the committee will conduct an inquiry about all the appointments made after Surappa assumed charge. As per the government order, the committee needs to submit a report in three months.

The government probe order came after at least three standoffs – one, the dispute over grant of IoE for the university; two, bifurcation of the university; and three, policy regarding grant of blanket pass for arrear-holders --between the government and the university in recent weeks.

Your thallu vandi dosai now a click away

Your thallu vandi dosai now a click away

Harshitha.Kumayaa@timesgroup.com

Chennai:18.11.2020

Craving for some street food following months of lockdown? Things may be looking up for you as your favourite thallu vandis or push cart shops will soon be just a click away, thanks to a new initiative by the Greater Chennai Corporation. Introduced as part of Prime Minister Street Vendor’s Atma Nibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, the corporation, in association with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), National Urban Livelihood Mission, and Swiggy, will train 500 street vendors on food safety and hygiene, following which they will be issued certification by FSSAI.

The vendors would then be a part of the onboarding process with Swiggy, where they would be trained on the technical aspects of the job. On a pilot basis, 50 of the trained vendors would get on board by November 25.

“This is part of our Covid-19 relief work with street vendors. Introducing them to the online platform would enable them to take their business to the next level,” said Meghanath Reddy, corporation deputy commissioner (revenue and finance), who held a meeting with the stakeholders and select vendors on November 12 to discuss the project.

The vendors will be equipped with the required safety gear, and branded with a store name to sell their food on Swiggy. “Several vendors have shown interest as they are becoming aware of the changing patterns of the food industry,” said Reddy.

The Food Safety training and certification (FoSTAC) programme has been taking place online for more than a week. “We have trained more than 350 food vendors. Their details would be provided to the Corporation to carry the process forward,” says Dr A. Ramakrishnan, designated officer, TN food safety department, Chennai district.

According to corporation data, there are over 24,000 registered street vendors in the city. Last month, 300 of them were provided FSSAI certification and more than 2,600 have received certification. Most of the vendors are from Marina, Besant Nagar, T Nagar, and Egmore.

For Malathy and Murthy, who have been selling idli, dosa and poori on their push-cart in T Nagar for 25 years, this project is a welcome sign after the lockdown lull. “I am looking forward to enhancing the quality of food,” says Malathy.

Selvakumar M, a vendor from T Nagar who has been trained and certified by the programme, says he could expect fresh customers now. “Looking at us wear masks, gloves, and head caps, we might get more in-person customers, besides the online ones we would get through Swiggy.”

BACK ON THE MENU

Lakshmi Vilas Bank to be merged with DBS

Lakshmi Vilas Bank to be merged with DBS

RBI Caps Cash Withdrawal At ₹25k For A Mth

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.111.2020

In a joint operation, the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday announced a plan to merge Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS Bank India, minutes after the government imposed a moratorium on the beleaguered lender, limiting cash withdrawals to ₹25,000 for a month.

The proposed amalgamation with the Indian subsidiary of Singapore’s DBS Bank marks a shift in the RBI and the government’s stand with a foreign bank being tasked with reviving an ailing old-generation private lender, instead of relying on public sector players to take over a problematic rival.

The terms of amalgamations envisages a complete write off of share capital, reserves and surplus, including share premium account. Besides, on the appointed date, LVB shall cease to exist by operation of the scheme, and its shares or debentures listed in any of the stock exchanges shall stand delisted without any further action. Simply put, the shares will have zero value when the scheme gets operationalised.

Since March, when Yes Bank was placed under moratorium, this is the second instance of a bank requiring RBI intervention. Unlike in the developed countries, in India, the government and the banking regulator avoid letting a bank collapse and step in to avoid any systemic problems.

DBS to invest ₹2,500 crore more to grow LVB: RBI

With the crisis lingering on, the government and RBI decided to step in on Tuesday in what appeared to be a pre-planned exercise.

Despite the monthly cap on withdrawals, LVB will continue to honour its commitment on various government bonds and other inter-bank payments. RBI also assured depositors that their interests were fully protected and there was no need to panic. Former Canara Bank chairman TN Manoharan has been appointed the administrator.

Although the moratorium is in place till mid-December, RBI has sought feedback on the drat amalgamation plan before Friday with the process expected to be speeded up.

As part of the revival strategy, DBS will invest an additional ₹2,500 crore into LVB to support growth, RBI said. “The proposed amalgamation will provide stability and better prospects to LVB depositors, customers and employees following a time of uncertainty. At the same time, the proposed amalgamation will allow DBIL to scale its customer base and network, particularly in South India, which has longstanding and close business ties with Singapore,” DBS Bank said.

An Employee Who Retired On 31st Of A Month Not Entitled To Increment Which Would Have Fallen Due On 1st Of Next Month: Himachal Pradesh High Court

An Employee Who Retired On 31st Of A Month Not Entitled To Increment Which Would Have Fallen Due On 1st Of Next Month: Himachal Pradesh High Court: The Himachal Pradesh High Court has held that an employee, who has retired on the 31st of a month, cannot claim the benefit of an increment which became due on the 1st of the next month, as on that...

Colleges, varsities reopen to low attendance in Haryana

Colleges, varsities reopen to low attendance in Haryana

Siddharth.Tiwari@timesgroup.com

Gurgaon:17.11.2020

Colleges and universities across Haryana resumed physical classes for the first time in the 2020-21 academic session on Monday. The attendance, however, remained significantly low on the first day. Officials in the education department attributed it to the festive season and the rising number of Covid-19 cases in NCR.

As per the SOPs issued by the higher education department, institutions have drawn up a roster and limited the visit of each student to thrice a week. Online classes, however, are to continue until the Covid situation stabilises and fresh directives are issued by the Centre.

“Colleges and universities across the state resumed their physical classes in a staggered manner on Monday. Due to the festive season, a few colleges are observing holidays but they will reopen soon too. We have had discussions with the deans and the college administrations and asked them to prepare a plan to rationalise the number of students visiting the campus on a single day. A strict compliance with the SOPs is a must and any dereliction will invite action,” said an education department official.

While a few colleges opened on Monday, several others remained shut due to the holiday declared by Gurugram University. A few that did open did not even see 1% attendance. For instance, at Dronacharya Government College, only 20 students turned up. A brief counselling session was held in the open about the government’s plan to roll out a hybrid mode of education — online and offline — and Covid-related protocols to be followed.

“The attendance wasn’t encouraging and will take time to improve. There could be several reasons, like the ongoing festive season.We have issued rosters and daywise plans to the faculty and the students,” said Pooja Khullar, the principal of Dronacharya Government College.

Colleges have chalked out plans to ensure staggered entry of students on the campus to ensure physical distancing and make monitoring manageable. Some colleges are also planning to roll out the odd-even formula, in which students would be called on the basis of their roll numbers.

“As and when the strength increases, we will divide the students in sections, with not more than 20 in each. Also, the classroom sessions are being planned in a way that each student visits the campus only twice a week,” she added.

Google removes 5 rogue lending apps

Google removes 5 rogue lending apps

Anam.Ajmal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:17.11.2020

Several digital lending applications, unauthorised by any financial regulator, were available for download on Google Playstore for over three months. These apps, whose names resembled legit companies, offered users short-term credit at very high interest rates and then, in some cases, harassed or abused the borrowers for repayment. Following queries sent by TOI to Google, the technology giant took down at least five of them.

“Such unauthorised apps grew during the lockdown when people needed quick cash. The apps’ names resembled legit companies. Many people did not know how to distinguish between the two. They were downloaded by at least 400,000 to 1million people,” said fintech researcher Srikanth L, who studied at least 10 such apps.

TOI tried reaching out to the numbers listed on the nowdefunct apps, but they were unreachable. Those taken down by the technology giant include Ok Cash, Go Cash, Flip Cash, ECash and SnapItLoan.

“Our Google Play Developer Policies are designed to protect users and keep them safe, and we recently expanded our Financial Services policy to help protect people from deceptive and exploitative personal loan terms. When violations are found, we take action,” a Google spokesperson told TOI on Friday.

According to Google’s policies, if any app “contains or promotes financial products and services”, it must comply with state and local regulations for any region or country. However, Srikanth’s research showed these apps had their servers hosted on Alibaba cloud, a Chinese company.

“A common feature among these apps is that they have no legal entity in India. It is possible some money is laundered through this as all these transactions will be outside RBI’s regulatory purview,” said Srikanth, a coordinator at citizen led collective Cashless Consumer, which raises awareness about digital transactions.

Full report on www.toi.in

Times View: Such rogue apps bring misery to the financially needy and the unsuspecting. They must be brought under regulation. Google too should monitor their functioning and take suo moto action against them.

CRACKING DOWN

Admission headache: Students asked for certificates though final yr results not out

Admission headache: Students asked for certificates though final yr results not out

Ramendra.Singh@timesgroup.com

Bhopal:  17.11.2020 

Several students seeking admission to B.Ped, M.Ped, B.Ed, M.Ed and other such courses are in a strange situation. While their final year results are yet to be announced, they have been asked to get their documents verified. Students said there is still one more round to be organized and it will put their entire year in trouble.

As per the notification, students have been asked to get their documents like TC, migration and others from November 18 to 25. Incidentally, universities like Ujjain’s Vikram University and a few others have announced their final year results recently but BU’s students are still waiting for their results.

Students will lose their admission if they fail to get their documents verified. Students said when results are not announced, from where would they get TC and migration? “I am seeking admission in B.Ped. I am waiting for my results. I have contacted Barkatullah University several times, but they are not telling me any date. How to get TC and migration when I do not have results in my hand,” said Bipin Jha, a final year student.

Another student demanded that the dates of the document verification be extended. “We are already in trouble due to the Covid pandemic. In such a situation, it is even more frustrating to see such notifications,” said another final year student, Vinita Sharma.

The teaching faculty were also of the view that students are in a catch-22 sitution after such notification. “Undoubtedly, this is a matter of concern for the students. What to verify when they do not have any documents? This is a situation which is frustrating for anyone,” said a senior professor of BU on condition of anonymity.

When contacted, BU’s registrar Ajeet Shrivastava admitted that a few results of final years are yet to be declared. “We are in process of declaring the results soon. We are hoping that we will be able to declare all final year results before November 25,” said Shrivastava.

Asked about the courses in which results are to be announced, Shrivastava said, “I can’t tell the names of the courses in which results are yet to be announced as I am outstation.”

Students fear losing admission if they fail to follow the order