Madras HC judge MM Sundresh among nine to be elevated to SC by collegium

Madras HC judge MM Sundresh among nine to be elevated to SC by collegium

Among the nine judges named by the Supreme Court Collegium for elevation to the apex court is Justice MM Sundresh.

Published: 19th August 2021 05:28 AM |

MM Sundresh Madras HC judge

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Among the nine judges named by the Supreme Court Collegium for elevation to the apex court is Justice MM Sundresh. He is the third senior-most judge of the Madras HC. It was him who delivered the judgment that effectively banned the erection of advertisements, banners and hoardings near traffic signals.

A bench, headed by him, recently directed the CBI to probe into the death of pachyderms in the forest after a PIL alleged they were poached for ivory. Born in Erode, the 58-year-old completed his schooling and pre-university education there.

A graduate of the Loyola College and the Madras Law College, the judge was enrolled as an advocate in 1985 and served as a government advocate from 1991 to 1996. His precise presentation of cases on facts and law was well appreciated by the Bench and Bar.

He was also the Counsel for the TN Small Scale Industries Development Corporation. He was also a member of the Monitoring Committee overseeing the establishment of Reverse Osmosis System to Dyeing Units of Tiruppur, Karur and Erode. He also served as an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court in 2009 and was elevated as a permanent judge there in 2011.

TN not offering first dose of Covaxin any longer: Ma Subramanian

TN not offering first dose of Covaxin any longer: Ma Subramanian

So far, 2,03,07,691 people have received their first dose, and 48,58,628 people the second dose.

Published: 19th August 2021 05:31 AM |

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: With four lakh doses of Covaxin being needed to provide people with their second jabs, Tamil Nadu is no longer offering a first dose of the vaccine, said Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Wednesday.

According to the Health Minister, so far the State had received 39,08,250 doses of Covaxin and 36,31,545 doses had been administered. Private hospitals have a stock of 2,12,937 doses. The State has informed the Union Health Ministry that four lakh doses of Covaxin are needed to provide people with their second doses, he said.

As two doses of Covaxin are administered with a gap of just 28 days, there is a shortage. This is not the case with Covishield which has a longer gap between doses, the minister said, speaking to reporters at the Government Corona Hospital in King Institute, Guindy.

In Tamil Nadu so far 2.70 crore people have been vaccinated. The State had received 2.52 crore vaccine doses, excluding stock in private hospitals. The State has 8,89,877 doses of vaccine currently in stock and is expected to receive 27 lakh doses as part of its August supply from the Union Government in 13 days, the minister said.

So far, 2,03,07,691 people have received their first dose, and 48,58,628 people the second dose. As many as 2,74,011 pregnant women and 1,95,934 lactating mothers have received the vaccine in Tamil Nadu, Subramanian added.

The minister said that in five to 10 days a lab will be opened at the DMS campus by Chief Minister MK Stalin to conduct genome sequence analysis and detect coronavirus variants such as Delta. Equipment worth Rs 3 crore has been purchased for this and five medical technicians from Tamil Nadu were sent to InSTEM, Bengaluru for training.

In the two weeks since the launch of Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam, 1.28 lakh people have benefited, he said.

Debate over credit for medical colleges

Debate over credit for medical colleges

Published: 18th August 2021 05:26 AM |

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The State Assembly witnessed heated moments on Tuesday with Minister Ma Subramanian and AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami entering into an argument over which party deserved credit for establishing 11 medical colleges in the State.

During a debate on the revised General Budget and the Agriculture Budget, AIADMK member VV Rajan Chellappa claimed that the erstwhile government led by his party was responsible for launching 11 medical colleges in the State within a year.

Replying to his claim, Ma. Subramanian said, “It was former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s decision to establish a medical college in every district, and he had also identified lands for six medical colleges and granted them administration sanction.”

Leader of Opposition Palaniswami intervened and said: “These medical colleges were established with the Centre and State partnership ratio of 60:40 due to the efforts of previous AIADMK-led governments.”

59-yr-old prof held for raping PhD scholar

59-yr-old prof held for raping PhD scholar

Jabalpur:18.08.2021

A PhD scholar at Rani Durgavati University in Jabalpur has accused a professor of raping her for six months on the threat to fail her in the examination.

Belbagh police station registered a case on the basis of her complaint and arrested the accused.

“She has complained that the accused had been harassing her for two years. Around six months ago, he went to her rented home, where she lived alone, and raped her by threatening to fail her in the exam,” said SI Sandhya Chandel.

“Thereafter, he continued to rape her. She complained to police once earlier but withdrew it after the professor apologised. However, on August 16, the professor again went to her house and raped her after which she filed a complaint,” SI Chandelsaid. TNN

Govt wants nod to admit 1,650 med students

Govt wants nod to admit 1,650 med students

Chennai:18.08.2021

Health minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said they are confident of getting the Union government’s nod to admit 1,650 students to the new medical colleges this year. As per the chief minister’s (M K Stalin) direction, he met the Union health minister and appealed to him to expedite the inspection of the 11 new medical colleges, said the minister, adding, “The experts' team completed the inspections in the state.” TNN

Stalin will decide on reopening of schools on August 20: Min

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.08.2021

Chief minister M K Stalin will take a call on reopening of schools and further relaxations on August 20, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi told education officials on Tuesday.

The state government already announced that schools for Classes IX to XII will be reopened from September 1.

The government also announced that 50% of students will be asked to attend schools on alternate days. The chief minister will chair a meeting to announce Covid-19 relaxations on August 20. There is a demand from schools to open up for other schools also on a phased manner.

"Bridging learning loss will be a huge challenge when the schools reopen as students come back to schools after a long gap," the minister told the chief educational officers at a meeting in Chennai. The officials also discussed protocols to be evolved when the schools reopened from September1.

"The announcement of transforming education from rote learning to concept based learning was well appreciated. The chief educational officers should concentrate on generating funds for government schools through corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from industries," the minister said.

He asked the CEOs to take a list of infrastructure needed for government schools in each district. "We are giving basic computer skills training to all teachers to equip them to take online classes for government school students. The hitech labs in government schools also need to be used to enhance the learning of children," he said.

The education officials also discussed developing EMIS (Educational Management Information System) portal, RTE (Right to Education act) admissions among other issues.

The school education department also sought district wise details like distribution of free laptops from 2011-22 to 2019-20 and the laptops kept in the custody of the department and also sought similar details like distribution of atlas, footwear, school bag and other welfare schemes

Irked at ‘spurious gurus’, HC rejects bail of Siva Baba

Irked at ‘spurious gurus’, HC rejects bail of Siva Baba

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.08.2021

Society's collective gullibility in matters of faith comes handy for fake godmen and the so-called spiritual gurus to exploit people to the hilt. The reverential faith reposed on such spurious Gurus by their multitude of minions stands betrayed at the eventual exposure of their wickedness hid behind the mask of spirituality, said Madras high court, dismissing a bail petition by C N Siva Shankaran alias Sivashankar Baba, who was arrested by CB-CID on charges of sexual abuse.

Justice M Dhandapani before whom the petition came up for hearing, expressed shock at the manner in which the common man, in spite of his intellect and faculties, is being brainwashed by persons, who, under the guise of spiritual awakening and intellectual liberation, commit perverted acts on the women folk, as is alleged in the present complaints.

Stating that it would not be in the interest of justice if the self-styled god man is granted bail as he is also booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, the court denied bail to the godman.

“Of late, our society has been a hapless witness to the mushrooming of self-styled Godmen and gurus who hold out promises of deliverance or salvation to the people who look upon them for answers for all their inner struggles, who are being driven to the point of despair and despondency. The society that is all-pervasively influenced by myriad religious people, become invariably susceptible to machinations at the hands of the phoney Gurus,” the court said and stated that the society needed to guard itself against the attempts by such gurus in exploiting the people's emotional dependence on external agencies/forces.

These spiritual gurus, the court observed, invariably end up exponentially successful in aggrandizement of their wealth, power and influence, which has a cascading detrimental effect on the common man.

Earlier, counsel for the accused argued that there is a fallacy in the prosecution theory. He said the godman is 74 years old and cited health reasons to enlarge him on bail.