751/2021-22 04-03-2022 Chennai WEEKLY EXPRESS TRAIN BETWEEN NAGAPATTINAM AND VASCO DA GAMA

 

751/2021-22 04-03-2022 Chennai WEEKLY EXPRESS TRAIN BETWEEN NAGAPATTINAM AND VASCO DA GAMA South Western Railway has notified the running of a Weekly Train, No.17315/17316, between Vasco Da Gama and Nagapattinam as detailed below:- Train No. 17315 Vasco Da Gama – Nagapattinam Weekly Express will leave Vasco Da Gama at 09.00 hrs o­n Mondays and reach Nagapattinam at 11.40 hrs o­n Tuesdays, starting from 7th March 2022. In the return direction, Train No. 17316 Nagapattinam – Vasco Da Gama Weekly Express will leave Nagapattinam at 00.20 hrs o­n Wednesdays and reach Vasco Da Gama at 03.25 hrs o­n Thursdays, starting from 9th March 2022. Both the above train services, Train Nos. 17315 / 17316 Vasco Da Gama – Nagapattinam – Vasco Da Gama presently operated up to Nagapattinam, will be extended to Velankanni. The date of extension upto Velankanni will be notified later. Coach Composition: One AC Two Tier Coach, Four AC Three Tier Coaches, Seven Sleeper Class Coaches, Four General Second Class Coaches & Two Luggage cum brake Vans The details of timings and stoppages of Train No. No.17315 / 17316 Vasco Da Gama – Velankanni – Vasco Da Gama Weekly Express trains are as follows: (Timings in hours)

17315 Vasco Da Gama – Nagapattinam Weekly Express	↓	Station	↑	Train No. 17316 Nagapattinam – Vaso Da Gama Weekly Express
09.00 (Dep)	(d)	Vasco Da Gama	(a)	03.25 (Arr)
09.30 /09.35	(a/d)	Madgaon	(a/d)	02.15 / 02.20
09.49 /09.50	(a/d)	Sanverdam Church	(a/d)	01.20 /01.21
10.15 / 10.20	(a/d)	Kulem	(a/d)	00.55 /01.00
11.30 / 11.35	(a/d)	Castle Rock	(a/d)	22.50 /22.55
12.10 / 12.12	(a/d)	Londa	(a/d)	22.13 /22.15
13.38 /13.40	(a/d)	Dharwar	(a/d)	20.34 / 20.36
14.20 / 14.30	(a/d)	Hubballi	(a/d)	20.00 /20.10
15.58 /16.00	(a/d)	Haveri	(a/d)	17.53 /17.55
16.29 /16.30	(a/d)	Ranibennur	(a/d)	17.20 /17.22
17.03 /17.05	(a/d)	Davangere	(a/d)	16.43/16.45
18.30 /18.32	(a/d)	Birur	(a/d)	15.20 /15.22
19.20 /19.25	(a/d)	Arsikere	(a/d)	14.35 /14.40
19.46 / 19.48	(a/d)	Tiptur	(a/d)	14.13 / 14.15
20.50 / 20.52	(a/d)	Tumakuru	(a/d)	13.18 /13.20
21.35 /21.37	(a/d)	Chik Banavar	(a/d)	12.30 / 12.32
23.11 / 23.12	(a/d)	Banaswadi	(a/d)	11.57 /11.58
23.51/ 23.53	(a/d)	Krishnarajapuram	(a/d)	11.30 / 11.32
00.38 / 00.40	(a/d)	Bangarapet	(a/d)	10.33 /10.35
04.02 / 04.05	(a/d)	Salem Jn	(a/d)	07.22 / 07.25
05.20 /05.30	(a/d)	Erode Jn	(a/d)	06.25 / 06.35
06.28 /06.30	(a/d)	Karur	(a/d)	04.23 / 04.25
08.10 / 08.20	(a/d)	Tiruchchirappalli Jn	(a/d)	03.00 / 03.10
09.28 /09.30	(a/d)	Thanjavur	(a/d)	01.48 / 01.50
10.23 /10.25	(a/d)	Thiruvarur Jn	(a/d)	00.53 / 00.55
11.40 (Arr)	(a)	Nagapattinam	(d)	00.20 (Dep)

Advance Reservation for the above Express trains are open from Southern Railway end

                       

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Is refusal of mental illness therapy ground for divorce?

Is refusal of mental illness therapy ground for divorce?

TNN | Mar 5, 2022, 04.28 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Can wife’s non-acknowledgement of her schizophrenia and alleged refusal to get psychiatric treatment be termed cruelty and entitle husband to get divorce under an over 150-year-old law governing dissolution of Christian marriages?

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose agreed to examine this question posed by advocate Vipin Nair on behalf of a woman, whose marriage to a man was annulled by the Kerala high court despite it granting custody of the couple’s two daughters and agreeing with the trial court that she did not suffer from unsound mind.

The couple married in 2001 as per Christian rites and had two daughters in 2002 and 2009. The husband filed for divorce under Indian Divorce Act, 1869, in the year 2012. A family court said the woman left the matrimonial home in February 2011, hence no case was made out for grant of divorce on the ground of desertion. It also rejected divorce on the ground of unsoundness of mind of the wife, finding nothing wrong with the wife’s mental condition. The HC agreed with these two findings of the family court.

However, it agreed with the family court’s finding that the husband was entitled to divorce on the ground of cruelty as she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

The HC noted the SC rulings that divorce cannot be granted merely for the reason of suffering of Schizophrenia. But, it differentiated the case in hand and said, “this court (the HC) cannot ignore the fact that the woman refused to acknowledge having illness. She was also not prepared to undergo treatment and come out of such illness, even though she is mentally sound.”

“She can very well identify her problem. In fact, the doctor diagnosed her problem. But still she refused to acknowledge and undergo treatment. In such circumstances, the husband cannot be forced to live with a spouse who refused to undergo treatment,” the HC said.

Nair argued before Justice Saran-led bench that said that if the so-called refusal of wife to undergo psychiatric treatment, even when it was found that she did not suffer from unsoundness of mind, becomes a valid ground for dissolution of marriage, this could become a ruse for the husbands refusing to take care of their wives to seek divorce. The bench issued notice to the husband and sought his response in six weeks.

Fake marksheet, note racket busted

Fake marksheet, note racket busted

TNN | Mar 5, 2022, 04.11 AM IST

Surat: Acting on tip-off, a team from Bharuch’s special operation group (SOG) busted a racket of making bogus marksheets as well as counterfeit notes by two people, who were carrying out this illegal business, under the garb of a job placement agency.

SOG got tip-off that two people named Sachin Kharva (30), a resident of Ramnagar in Hansot village and Rahulkumar Parmar (31), resident of Hariom Nagar in Andada village, were operating the racket under the name of Arti Consultancy” in Omkar-2 complex in Ankleshwar.

Police raided the place and seized 215 duplicate marksheets, 126 original marksheets, 19,796 hologram stickers, four fake notes of Rs 50, 24 notes of Rs 100, a computer and printer worth Rs 40,000, two mobile phones worth Rs 10,000.

The duo had been running the racket for the last two years.

They were making fake marksheets of different institutes and universities including Gujarat education board, Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU).

Police registered an offence under relevant sections of IPC.

Ukraine crisis: NMC allows foreign medical graduates to complete internship in India

Ukraine crisis: NMC allows foreign medical graduates to complete internship in India

Amid ongoing Ukraine crisis, NMC has considered foreign medical graduates (FMG) with incomplete internships as eligible to complete the remaining part of their internship in India Ukraine’s state-run universities providing medical education at low costs have been attracting Indian students for years. The NMC issued detailed guidelines, which are required to be followed by state medical councils for grant of registration of foreign medical graduates till further instructions from the commission or implementation of National Exit Test, whichever occurs earlier 

Published on Mar 05, 2022 01:51 AM IST

ByParteek Singh Mahal, Faridkot

Amid the ongoing evacuation of medical students from war-torn Ukraine, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has considered the foreign medical graduates (FMG) with incomplete internships due to compelling situations, like war, as eligible to complete the remaining part of their internship in India.

For securing registration to practice medicine in India, the students pursuing medical studies abroad require to do double internships — once in the country where they got the MBBS and again in India — as per the National Medical Commission (Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate) Regulations, 2021.

Ukraine’s state-run universities providing medical education at low costs have been attracting Indian students for years. According to the country’s ministry of education and science, there are around 18,095 Indian students in Ukraine. There were hundreds of students, who were doing their internship in the final year of their course.

The NMC undergraduate medical education board in a notification stated that it has been observed that there are also some foreign medical graduates with incomplete internship due to such compelling situation which is beyond their control, such as pandemic Covid-19 and war etc. “Considering the agony and stress faced by these foreign medical graduates, their application to complete the remaining part of an internship in India is considered eligible. Accordingly, the same may be processed by state medical councils provided that the candidates must have cleared FMGE before applying for completion of internship in India,” said deputy secretary Shambhu Sharan Kumar.

The NMC issued the detailed guidelines, which are required to be followed by the state medical councils for the grant of registration of FMGs till further instructions from the commission or implementation of the National Exit Test (NExT), whichever occurs earlier.

“The state medical councils should ensure the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) conducted by the National Board of Examination (NBE) should be cleared by the candidates seeking registration in India. If the candidate is found fulfilling criteria, provisional registration may be granted by the state medical councils for 12 months internship or balance period, as the case may be. State medical councils should obtain an undertaking from the medical college that no fee is charged by the medical college from the FMGs for permitting them to do their internship. The stipend and other facilities to FMGs should be extended equivalent Indian medical graduates being trained at the government medical colleges as fixed by the appropriate authority,” it reads.

TN STUDENTS IN UKRAINE

 

77% medical seats under NRI quota go abegging

77% medical seats under NRI quota go abegging

TNN | Mar 5, 2022, 03.49 AM IST

Chennai: Nearly 77% of the undergraduate medical seats under the NRI quota have remained vacant after the first round of online medical counselling for 2021 admissions. The state selection committee, which has extended counselling for the category, has announced that if these seats continue to remain vacant until Monday, they will be considered as “lapsed seats” and moved to the general pool.

When the counselling opened, 17 self-financing colleges asked for 15% of the seats to be set aside for NRI admissions, for which the fee committee has permitted college managements to charge ₹23.50 lakh as an annual fee. “But even when we opened the counselling there were just 250 applications for the 398 seats. When the process began, 106 candidates locked choices and 92 took the seats,” said selection committee secretary Dr P Vasanthamani.

The committee then decided to extend the first round of counselling for the category and the deadline for registration ended by noon on Friday. Candidates have been asked to lock choices by 10pm on Saturday. “We will be putting out the results by Saturday and students will be given time to join colleges until Monday,” she said.

Seats that continue to remain vacant after Monday will be considered ‘lapsed NRI seats’ and added back into the management quota matrix. Students from the general category in the management rank list can apply for the seats. The fee for lapsed seats will be ₹20.3 lakh. The fee committee has allowed colleges to charge to take ₹12.5 lakh for students allotted under management quota and ₹3.8 to ₹4 lakh for students allotted under government quota.

Students say they will be happy to have at least 300 more seats on the seat matrix. “These seats will cost us more than management quota seats, but it is still lesser than deemed universities, which is the only other option we are left with,” he said.

The admissions to deemed universities, which charge around ₹25lakh a year, are done by the medical counselling committee of the Directorate General of Health Services.

Family of Bengaluru man, who died of Covid-19 eight months ago, gets ‘fully jabbed’ message

Family of Bengaluru man, who died of Covid-19 eight months ago, gets ‘fully jabbed’ message

TNN | Dec 15, 2021, 03.46 AM IST

BENGALURU: The wife of a 77-year-old man from South Bengaluru was in for a shock when she received a message congratulating the latter for being fully vaccinated against Covid-19, eight months after his death. A message from Co-Win stated that he got fully jabbed on December 9.

Sreekantaiah Seetharaman had taken his first dose on March 10. He was due for the second dose in May, as the interdose interval was 4-6 weeks for Covishield at that time. In between, he contracted Covid and died on April 8. “This could be a bogus entry done in my father’s name which is highly questionable,” his son Vishwanath S told TOI.

“This is nothing but the government’s ways to inflate the vaccination coverage. To a man who died due to Covid, the government has sent a message saying he’s fully vaccinated against the disease! If it was a data entry error, how did it match his name and the registered phone number?” the family members questioned.

Incidentally, Seetharaman’s 75-year-old wife had taken the first dose on March 1 and the second dose in August. The couple had used the same phone number for their Co-Win registration. She was not given any certificate during her second dose vaccination at an apartment saying there were technical issues. She also received a message from Co-Win on December 8 that she had taken the second dose on the day. “There is definitely a goof-up. While we hadn’t bothered much about her vaccination certificate when she took it in August, she has now got a message saying she was fully vaccinated on December 8,” the family members said.

As per the vaccination certificates, the couple got their doses at a centre falling under the Kumarswamy Layout urban primary health centre. “There is a code mentioned in the certificate, which we don’t know if it was the same as the vaccination centre in an apartment where they got jabbed,” a family member said.

TOI has a copy of the vaccination certificate and the messages received by Seetharaman’s family.

Dr Arundhathi Chandrasekhar, mission director, National Health Mission, Karnataka, said the matter will be investigated. “We will look into this,” she added.

She said a similar case of a dead person getting a message about being fully vaccinated was reported in Tumakuru recently and when checked, it was found out to be a data entry error. “The error had crept in while typing a phone number. We also checked the number of doses administered by the nurse and it matched with the number of persons vaccinated. There was an error in the data entry, where there was a wrong entry of two digits. It was an entry against a wrong person’s name,” she added.

Dr Chandrasekhar said currently, healthcare workers are visiting houses for vaccination.

“At home or near home vaccination drives are going on. The workers note down the names, contact details of the beneficiaries and enter the details on the Co-Win portal when they return to their offices,” she said.

Missed out on degree? Delhi University offers ‘centenary chance’ to get it now

Missed out on degree? Delhi University offers ‘centenary chance’ to get it now

TNN | Mar 4, 2022, 04.00 AM IST

NEW DELHI: As part of its centenary celebrations, Delhi University is planning a host of activities from May 1 onwards, beginning with the release of a commemorative stamp and coin.

DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh on Thursday said competitions, cultural festivals and seminars will be held throughout the year. Moreover, “unsung heroes” who made significant contributions to the varsity as well as distinguished alumni will be felicitated.

The university will also offer a “centenary chance” to those who were unable to complete their studies. “The statutory bodies approved a proposal to give such people two chances to appear for exams and secure their degrees. There will be no age bar and papers will be set according to the syllabus from the student’s time. Many people had requested for the provision,” Singh said.

A book documenting DU’s history and a coffee table book will also be released. “DU started with 750 students and three colleges. Today, there are over seven lakh students and 90 colleges. We want to document its glorious past, in a documentary as well,” Singh said.

DU also plans to adopt a village for outreach activities like health check-up and blood donation camps. Apart from a proposal to plant 100 trees across 100 locations of DU campuses, the varsity will also organise an exhibition of rare manuscripts, book fairs and revive its community radio.

An initial seed money of Rs 10 crore has been approved by the statutory bodies for the centenary celebrations, Singh said. “Our vision is to feature among the top 200 universities in the world and we will take all necessary steps, including focusing on recruitment, to achieve that. We need the right kind of ecosystem for it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Singh on Thursday released the logo and tagline for the centenary celebrations. Out of 315 entries received, the university selected the logo designed by Gargi College student Kratika Khinchi.

Seeking old pension plan, govt staffers gherao HP assembly

Seeking old pension plan, govt staffers gherao HP assembly

TNN | Mar 4, 2022, 04.05 AM IST

SHIMLA: Thousands of protesting state government employees, covered under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), gheraoed the state legislative assembly here on Thursday in support of their demand for the implementation of the old pension scheme. The police tried to stop the protester near 103 Tunnel and the near the assembly complex by using water canons and setting up barricades, but a large number of them managed to gherao the assembly.

Meanwhile, the issue was even raised inside the House and opposition Congress staged a walkout after the speaker turned down an adjournment notice to discuss it.

The protesters have made their intention clear of not leaving the protest site till their demand is met. They said if the chief minister fails to make an announcement regarding the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme in his budget speech on Friday they will devise further strategy after holding the meeting of their core committee.

Facing police batons, tear gas and water cannons, they first clashed with the police in Tutikandi, then at 103 Tunnel and then near the assembly complex. At 103 Tunnel, they broke barricades after a scuffle with cops to reach the assembly complex, where they breached more barricades, to stage a dharna at the main gate.

Shimla deputy commissioner Aditya Negi came with his administrative team to talk to the protesters, but failed to convince them. Later, DGP Sanjay Kundu tried to convince them, but failed. Then urban development minister and Shimla (Urban) MLA Suresh Bhardwaj tried to pacify the protesters but failed to make a headway. The protest was still going on outside the assembly at the time of filing this report.

In the winter session of the assembly held in Dharamsala in December last year, Swaran Samaj had held a massive dharna to demand the formation of Swaran Ayog. A similar situation has been created here now, with employees coming out on the roads for their demand of Old Pension Scheme. NPS Employees Federation is holding a sit-in outside the assembly in Shimla and insisting on talking to the chief minister.

Earlier in the day, the protesters, who had come from all over the state, gathered at Tutikandi, from where they started a foot march towards the assembly but were stopped by the police at the bypass. The administration had given them permission to hold a rally at Chaura Maidan, but no protester headed that way.

NPS Employees Federation leaders were very categoric that either the chief minister announce the restoration of old pension scheme or be prepared for porlonged protests as they will not leave Shimla “without old pension”.

ADMIT MED STUDENTS IN OWN COLLEGES

 

Unvaccinated account for 92% Covid deaths in 2022: ICMR

Unvaccinated account for 92% Covid deaths in 2022: ICMR

TNN | Mar 4, 2022, 03.17 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Unvaccinated people accounted for nearly 92% of Covid-19 deaths this year, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said on Thursday citing data from Covid vaccine tracker.

Among fully vaccinated people, only 10.2% succumbed to Covid-19 and 91% of these fully vaccinated who died had co-morbidities. Besides, 21.8% of the people who died were partially vaccinated and 83% had co-morbidities.

Underlining that vaccination aided Covid management in India while many countries are still reeling under the rising number of Omicron infected Covid-19 cases, officials said deaths reduced significantly during the third surge dominated by the Omicron variant.

The case fatality rate (CFR) dropped to 0.35% during third surge (from January 4 to February 14, 2022), against 1.29% during second surge (March 21 to July 14, 2021) led by Delta infection which was highly lethal while vaccination coverage was very low at that time.

At the start of the second surge in 2021, only 10.1% of eligible population were partially vaccinated while 2.1% were fully vaccinated with two doses. On the other hand, during the third surge, 90.83% of adults were partially vaccinated and 65.4% were fully vaccinated against the infection.

“We are in a vaccine-protected low corona stage. That is why it is rational to open schools and businesses and carry on the affairs of society. However, the responsibility is to ensure that surveillance is intact and we are prepared, and to wear masks,” NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul said.

According to government data, the second wave lasted 117 days, from 21 March to 14 July, 2021, in the country with a total of 1.94 crore cases and 2.52 lakh deaths — a case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.29%.

During the third wave, which lasted 41 days — from 4 January to 14 February, 2022 — India reported 77.42 lakh cases and 27,118 deaths, a CFR of 0.35%.

“The relentless efforts of healthcare and frontline workers coupled with vaccination coverage have yielded results for effective containment of the recent surge,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry.

According to government data, it took 49 days to reach the peak of over 4.14 lakh cases during the second surge, whereas it took 18 days to reach the peak during the third surge which was powered by the highly transmissible Omicron strain.

New Delhi: The government has made it mandatory for police to investigate all road accident cases that occur on and after April 1 and ordered that cops will have to intimate about accidents to motor accident claim tribunals (MACTs) and insurance companies within 48 hours. The road transport ministry also made it mandatory to incorporate validated mobile numbers in the insurance certificates.

The rules, aimed at faster disposal of cases and quick disbursal of compensations, have set the mandatory procedure for investigation of road accidents, preparation of detailed accident reports, and fixing timelines for different stakeholders for quick settlement of claims by the MACT.

As per the notification, the police will have to visit the accident spots, collect evidence and intimate to the MACT about the accidents so that the process starts quickly. The investigation officer (IO) will be duty bound to inform the victims or their legal representatives about their rights and claims. The changes have been made following a Delhi HC order which had directed the Centre to adopt the model, which has been successfully done in Delhi. This has drastically cut the time period for getting the compensation.

The rules have specified the responsibility and timeline that all the stakeholders to give the medico-legal and postmortem reports.

Don't push single parent seeking passport for kid to court: Kerala HC to union govt

Don't push single parent seeking passport for kid to court: Kerala HC to union govt

TNN | Mar 3, 2022, 11.54 PM IST

KOCHI: Passport authorities should not reject applications filed by single parents, who have obtained divorce or are undergoing divorce, for passports for their children and push them to court to obtain orders, said the Kerala high court.

The criticism by justice Amit Rawal was in the judgment on a petition (WP-C No. 5284/2022) filed by Shiny S of Kottayam against the union government, the regional passport officer of Kochi, and assistant passport officer of Passport Seva Kendra of Kottayam.

In the judgment, the court said it is a classic case of highhandedness by the assistant passport officer denying the re-issuance of the passport to a single parent facing matrimonial discord and directing to obtain a court order. The single parent had filed a ‘Form C’ undertaking that the entire responsibility would be hers as divorce has already been obtained.

However, the passport authorities had declined to issue a passport by stating that the child’s custody is not mentioned in the divorce order and had insisted on the father’s consent or court order.

In the judgment, the court said it is coming across similar litigations day in and day out in which single parents are forced to approach the high court despite filing a ‘Form C’ declaration. A counsel representing the passport authorities had informed the court that the petitioner’s application has been processed and the passport will be re-issued.

The court said, “The officers at the helm of affairs exercising the powers for issuing the passport are supposed to deal with the application in a pragmatic and reasonable manner, but should not reject the application in the manner and mode as extracted above. Knowing fully well that this Court would have expressed concern with regard to the spate of litigation and may come down heavily on the action of the respondents, in anticipation of that processed the application of the petitioner, but for redressal of the grievance is impelled to shell out litigation expenses.”

Govt exploring ways to help evacuees complete studies

Govt exploring ways to help evacuees complete studies

TNN | Mar 4, 2022, 05.29 AM IST

NEW DELHI: With the future of many Indian students who were pursuing medical education in war-torn Ukraine in limbo, the government along with the National Medical Commission of India is discussing possibilities to accommodate such students in either Indian medical colleges or those abroad so that they can complete their courses. “There is a need to examine this on humanitarian grounds. We will have to see how many such students are affected, how many of them are in third or fourth year and what are the existing provisions. We will do whatever possible to support them,” a senior official said.

The commission, health ministry and member from Niti Aayog is expected to meet soon to deliberate on the issue, sources said.

Another official from the health ministry said the concerned departments are examining it and the government will do whatever possible to support such students.

According to a source, the government is looking at possibilities of whether provisions can be made on humanitarian ground to accommodate such students from Ukraine in either private medical colleges or allow their transfer to colleges in other countries so that they can appear for NEET-FMG.

Some local doctors’ associations have made representations to NMC seeking intervention to introduce special provisions enabling transfer of such students to medical colleges in other countries. This will ensure their eligibility to apply for entrance exam in India as foreign medical graduates (FMG).

Medical students pursuing medicine from foreign universities have to clear the screening test. Once they clear it, they are equal to any other Indian medical graduate for further practice and employment as a medical doctor in India. However, the NMC rule doesn’t allow migration of FMG from one medical college to another.

Uncertainty is looming over the future of thousands of medical students who returned from Ukraine since the beginning of the crisis there. Continuation of education has become a challenge for such students as war has impacted infrastructure, even as many of them are in their final years of medical courses.

Ukraine has been a preferred destination for medical aspirants from India as it provides quality education at low cost, attracting many candidates who failed to secure a seat in government colleges in India.

Clearly mark food items as vegetarian, non-vegetarian: Delhi high court

Clearly mark food items as vegetarian, non-vegetarian: Delhi high court

TNN | Mar 3, 2022, 04.40 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Delhi high court has called for a complete disclosure if a food item is vegetarian or non-vegetarian, noting that fundamental rights of every person are impacted by what is offered.

The high court directed Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Wednesday to issue a fresh communication to all authorities concerned on the obligation to make a clear disclosure on the ingredients of a food article.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and D K Sharma passed the order while hearing a plea for labelling “all items” used by the public as vegetarian or non-vegetarian and the “items used in the manufacturing process”.

The court agreed with the submission made by the petitioner’s counsel that it was pointless to issue such a communication to the authorities, and not to the general public whose fundamental rights were being affected.

“Since the right of every person under Article 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) and Article 25 (freedom to conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) under the Constitution is impacted by what is offered on a platter, in our view it is fundamental that a full and complete disclosure regarding the food article being vegetarian or non-vegetarian is made a part of consumer awareness,” the court said, adding that failure in complete disclosure about any packaged food article also defeated the purpose for which Food Safety and Standards Act was enacted.

The bench was hearing a plea by a trust, Ram Gau Raksha Dal, working for the welfare of cows. According to the plea, a December 22, 2021 communication by FSSAI still leaves a lot of ambiguity and does not clearly require food business operators to make a disclosure as to whether or not the food item is vegetarian or non-vegetarian on the basis that even if its use is miniscule, it will make the article non-vegetarian.

The court earlier said the use of non-vegetarian ingredients and labelling them vegetarian would offend religious and cultural sentiments of strict vegetarians and interfere in their right to freely profess their religion.