RTI info over 200+ pages? File another plea

RTI info over 200+ pages? File another plea

Banaskantha DDO Issues Circular Including ‘No Prejudice’ Clause

Paul John@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad:10.02.2021

If you are in Banaskantha and the information you sought under RTI runs into more than 200 pages, you will have to file another application. You will also need to ensure that the public information officer does not “perceive” you are filing the plea to satisfy a grudge, or your RTI plea could be rejected.

These are just two of the fivepoint mantra issued by the Banaskantha district development officer that threatens to weaken the right of Gujarat’s citizens to know about government affairs. Coming on the heels of the Gujarat Information Commissioner’s controversial decision to impose a lifetime ban on a whistleblower from Amreli and ban three members of a family from filing RTI pleas for five years, these clauses in the circular have further alarmed RTI activists.

On February 2, Banaskantha DDO Ajay Dahiya issued a 27-point circular to all departments including five ‘controversial’ clauses that have raised eyebrows. These clauses bar the PIOs from parting with information if the PIO “deciphers” that the applicant, who has filed the plea, holds a grudge.

The circular also imposes a 200-page restriction. If an RTI applicant seeks copies of an officers’ property or tax returns, copies of charge sheets, show cause and warning notices, records related to conducting disciplinary action or annual confidential reports -- these will now be denied, too. For this, Dahiya has asked PIOs to rely on Supreme Court orders related to cases SLP 22609/2012 and SLP 27734/ 2012 to reject any such information sought under RTI Act. P 2

‘Attack on participatory democracy’

Bnaskantha DDO Ajay Dahiya's circular also stalled the transfer of an RTI application.

So, if information sought is not available with a particular department, the plea will not be transferred to the concerned department.

Instead, a fresh RTI application will have to be filed. “Our deputy DDO Harshad Makwana had prepared the circular with adequate legal citation. You may discuss with him for more details,” said DDO Dahiya who chose to stay away from commenting on the rationale behind including the controversial clauses. The DDO’s circular is an attack on participatory democracy, said Pankti Jog of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel. “Information regarding misappropriation of social security scheme payments, food ration, farmers enquiring into farm disputes, can all be denied with this single circular,” Jog said.

New govt arts colleges reopen for1st yr students sans subject teachers

New govt arts colleges reopen for1st yr students sans subject teachers

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.02.2021 

After months of online classes, thousands of first year students finally entered college campuses for in-person classes on Monday. But for 2,000 students in 10 new government arts and science colleges, in-person classes began without subject teachers and in some cases without any furniture too.

Ramar, a BComm student in one of the colleges, said the institution just took attendance the first two days and no classes were held. After months of attending online classes at neighbouring colleges, Ramar, like many of his peers, was looking forward to in-person classes. “We thought that offline classes would be better than online classes, but the first two days were disappointing,” he said.

Pothum Ponnu, another student, said her college told students that teachers would be appointed by next Monday. “One faculty member gave orientation,” she said.

While students were able to still learn something with online classes, with reopening, these classes have come to a halt, a student said.

As of Tuesday, the six new colleges in Rishivandiyam in Villupuram district, Ranipet, Sankarankovil in Tenkasi district and Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district, Tharangambadi in Karur district and Kuthalam in Nagapattinam district have just one faculty member per college. The other colleges have two or three faculty members, a far cry from the allotted 17 teaching posts per college.

“I am the only faculty member in my college. I have to open the college and put out chairs for students and take attendance and give orientation. It was really difficult to manage more than 200 students all by myself,” said a faculty member in charge of one of the new colleges. The faculty member rented chairs for 10 days as there was no furniture in the college.

Some new colleges postponed semester exams expecting more faculty members. “But, there is no chance in terms of faculty members and infrastructure. We have to prepare the students for upcoming semester exams. The government can depute some faculty members or appoint guest lecturers to help rural students,” another faculty member said.

Sources in the higher education department said the directorate of collegiate education is in the process of transferring faculty members to the new colleges.

TN to wrap up1st dose for health staff by Feb 20

SHOT OF HOPE

TN to wrap up1st dose for health staff by Feb 20

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:10.02.2021

Healthcare providers, who have not taken the Covid-19 vaccine yet, will be asked to visit any government vaccine centres in alphabetic order as per their first name. Those who do not turn up will be moved to the “general category” on the CoWIN portal, the directorate of public health said.

Only 1.74 lakh healthcare providers have taken the vaccine though there are 5.5 lakh registrations. “We have directions from the Centre to complete vaccinations for healthcare providers by February 20 and start preparations for the second dose. The programme is voluntary but we cannot wait endlessly for people to shun their hesitancy,” said director of public health Dr T S Selvavinayagam.

Directions have been given to all district health authorities to vaccinate healthcare workers walking into any centre. “To restrict crowds, we are asking them to walk in according to alphabetical order. There will be two mop days on February 21 and 22 when all healthcare workers can walk in for the first dose. If they don’t, their names will be moved to the general public category,” he said.

On Tuesday, 7,436 healthcare workers, 1,480 frontline workers and 1,634 policemen took the vaccine, taking the day’s recipient tally to 10,550. The tally was higher compared to 8,619 the previous day.

Meanwhile, the state added 469 cases and four deaths to the state registry. There were 4,328 people still under treatment for the viral infection. While Chennai reported two deaths, its neighbours Chengalpet and Tiruvallur reported one death each.

339 vaccinated in Puducherry

The directorate of health and family welfare services administered vaccines to 317 healthcare and 32 frontline workers in Puducherry on Tuesday when 35 new cases and zero deaths were reported. With 37 recoveries, the number of active cases came down to 307. TNN

Pallavaram municipality is dumping raw sewage into lake again: Residents

Pallavaram municipality is dumping raw sewage into lake again: Residents

Komal.Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.02.2021 

Even as a case is pending before the National Green Tribunal, activists of Kovilambakkam panchayat union caught on camera the Pallavaram municipality discharging raw untreated sewage into the Keelkatalai lake surplus channel from the Keelkatalai sewage pumping station.

Two large hoses were laid out for to transfer the raw sewage and the dumping has been on for more than a month, the union said, adding that a complaint has been registered with the CM cell and with concerned authorities. Putheri lake in Pallavaram municipality flows into the Keelkattalai lake and the channel then enters Kovilambakkam and ends at Pallikaranai.

“Openings have been made at several points along the canal to discharge sewage. We have taken photos, videos with GPS with date and time stamp and intend to submit to the NGT in the ongoing pollution case of the Kovilambakkam canal. We will demand compensation for the pollution as per the Supreme Court orders,” said J Sankar, coordinator of Federation of Sunnambu Kolathur Residents Welfare Associations. “Despite no rainfall for more than a month, the canal is brimming due to huge sewage inflow from the municipality and it can be inspected at anytime. We demand immediate stoppage of this illegal act and penal action on the erring officials.”

Poor maintenance of pumps, failure of power backup facilities, pipeline breakage are the main reasons behind the dumping, residents said. The NGT had taken up the case suo moto after a TOI report in January and sought a report from the authorities. However, there was a delay in submission and the panel was asked to submit the report this month.

The Pallavaram municipality filed an affidavit saying that there was no discharge from the municipality. Municipality commissioner C Mathivanan told TOI that all 70,000 households have underground drainage connections. “There is no way any sewage is illegally being pumped. Moreover, if there is some sewage, it is the water that is overflowing through manholes and getting mixed with the storm water drain,” he said.

At Kovilambakkam panchayat, residents said there was no sewage discharge into the lake as they used septic tanks and soak pits. The PWD, which owns the canal, remains a mute spectator.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA: A screengrab from a video shot by residents shows the discharge of raw sewage into Keelkatalai lake surplus channel

Five members of family killed as car, truck collide, one arrested

Five members of family killed as car, truck collide, one arrested

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:10.02.2021

Five members of a family died after the car they were travelling in rammed a truck at Padalam in Kancheepuram district in the early hours of Tuesday.

According to police, the deceased were identified as P Subramani, 85, a retired PWD official from Karayanchavadi in Poonamallee, his wife S Indirani, 75, a retired head mistress, their daughter, S Mahalakshmi, 51, granddaughter S Shanthini, 18, and driver J Paul Dinakaran, 24, from Mangadu.

Police said that the family had gone to Samayapuram temple in Trichy on Monday and was returning when the accident happened. The family was travelling in their own car and Paul Dinakaran was hired to drive it.

When the vehicle was going on Trichy-Chennai National Highway near Athimanam village at Madurantakam in Chengalpet district around 2.30am, the driver of a truck that was moving in front of the car applied sudden brake. Paul lost control and rammed the truck. All the occupants in the car died on the spot and the car was completely damaged.

Soon after the accident, the truck driver escaped abandoning the vehicle.

Passersby alerted the highways patrol police who with the help of the registration number of the sand-laden truck arrested its driver P Thangasami, 31, from Manapparai. Police said that the driver had to apply brake as another car moving ahead of him suddenly slowed down.

Passersby rushed all the five to a nearby government hospital where they were declared dead. The bodies were sent to Chengalpattu Government Hospital for postmortem. Police are checking whether Thangasami dozed off and applied the brakes. He was also speeding on the stretch, police said. Following the accident, police are sticking flickering stickers on the back of vehicles to alert the ones trailing them.

TEMPLE TRIP TURNS TRAGIC: The mangled remains of the car

Hold classes only for students of any 2 years in a day, colleges told

Hold classes only for students of any 2 years in a day, colleges told

Quarantine Of 14 Days Must For Hostel Students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:10.02.2021 

Classes of students of any two years alone should be held on any given day and hostels students should be under a14-day quarantine even if they test negative for Covid-19, the state government has directed arts and science colleges and polytechnics across the state. In engineering colleges, if there is space constraints to maintain social distancing, any two years have to attend classes in a day.

In an effort to ensure social distancing, the government came out with a fresh set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) a day after institutions across the state reopened for all under graduate and post-graduate students. According to the new guidelines, no more than 50% of the students should be present on the campus at any given point.

Institutions have also been asked to break each class into multiple sections, with one in every three seats kept vacant, and allowed to extend teaching hours as per the requirements.

While advising institutions to generally avoid holding cultural and sports activities, the government said such events could be conducted if physical distancing could be ensured. The SOP also mandated institutions to maintain air-conditioning in the 24°C to 30°C range.

In view of the Covid cluster at IIT Madras, the state government has added new protocols with regard to reopening hostels. “Since many hostel students come from different locations, they shall remain in quarantine and selfmonitor their health for a period of 14 days before being allowed to attend classes (even if they bring a negative test report),” chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan said in the order.

Sharing of rooms will not be allowed in hostels, meals should be served in small batches and takeaway options made available for students and staff. “Hostels should define the number of students in dining halls at any point in time. Mess timings should be increased to avoid overcrowding,” the order said.

Several college principals, however, said maintaining 14 days quarantine was not practically possible. “We can maintain less than 50% student strength by dividing classes into batches or asking only science students to attend physical classes. But, quarantining hostel students for 14 days is difficult,” said one principal.

Another principal, on a condition of anonymity, said the government was allowing 100% occupancy in buses and theatres but asking colleges to maintain 50% strength.

Anna University released a staggered academic schedule to maintain just one student per room in hostels after classes for first year students began on Monday. The state government also permitted teacher training institutes to function with up to 25 students per classroom. The authorities have also been allowed to conduct typewriting exams in March and April by following Covid-19 protocols.

HC mulls special team to investigate NEET marks fraud

HC mulls special team to investigate NEET marks fraud

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:10.02.2021 

Why should a special investigation team (SIT) not be formed to probe allegations of answer sheet tampering in NEET, asked the Madras high court on Tuesday.

Justice B Pugalendhi made the observation while hearing a plea moved by K S Manoj, a student from Coimbatore, alleging that his answer sheet had been tampered and two different marks were found for his single answer sheet.

According to the answer sheet downloaded from the official NEET website on October 15, his score was 594. But as per the answer sheet made available on October 17, his mark was 248, he said. When the plea came up for hearing, additional solicitor general R Shankaranarayanan submitted that the National Information Commission (NIC) is the competent authority to probe the allegation.

The petitioner, however, said probe by an independent agency is required as the allegations point out irregularities in the entire examination system.Tothis,theASGsubmitted that all the sheets that are provided by the agency cannot be manipulated since they are chemically treated and that in this case, there are signatures of two separate invigilators and that requires a thorough investigation to establish the case. NIC is also an independent agency, he said.

Recording the submissions, the court wondered as to why an SIT comprising representatives from the CBI, NIC and the state government should not be constituted to probe the allegation. After the ASG submitted that there is no need for constitution of an SIT with a state representative, the court directed the petitioner and the National Testing Agency to file their respective written arguments and adjourned the plea to February18.