Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Fake certificate racket busted

Police arrest three women, search on to nab kingpin behind crime

With the arrest of three women on Monday, revenue officials have unearthed a fake certificate racket in Vellore. While several fake certificates were seized from them, the police are on the lookout for Saravanan, the kingpin behind the racket.
A team led by S. Balaji, tahsildar of Vellore taluk, along with police personnel carried out checks following a complaint about a fake birth certificate that was issued to a 15-year-old girl. The certificate did not bear any reference number or serial number.
Based on this complaint, the officials conducted raids from 11.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the houses of three women – Mary, a resident of Rangasamy Street, Sumathi, of Saidapet and Shanthi, of Sankaranpalayam. Sumathi and Shanthi were petition writers near the Vellore Taluk office.
The officials nabbed Shanthi from her house, and she led them to Sumathi. Based on information from Sumathi, they nabbed Mary.
However, Mary’s paramour, Saravanan, was the kingpin behind the fake certificate racket, and is absconding.
No seals found
“Shanthi and Sumathi – both petition writers – persuaded people coming to the taluk office, and collected money from them promising to get them certificates. They gave the money to Mary and Saravanan for preparing the fake certificates,” Mr. Balaji said. The officials seized several fake certificates including community and income certificates from their houses. However, they did not find any seals during the check.
Vellore South police have registered a case and are on the lookout for Saravanan. Mr. Balaji said they were preparing flex banners to be installed in and around the taluk office to caution public not to fall prey to such malpractices.
at No comments:
Labels:

Travellers unhappy with revised schedule for Rockfort Express

“It hardly offers any benefit to passengers”

Southern Railway’s decision to revise the schedule of the hugely popular Rockfort Express, especially the Chennai-Tiruchi Rockfort Express (Train 12653), has drawn flak from city residents.
As per the new schedule, which would come into effect from November 1, the train’s departure time from Chennai Egmore has been pushed to 11.30 p.m. It will reach Tiruchi at 5.15 a.m. Currently, the train leaves Chennai at 10.30 p.m. and arrives here at 4.30 a.m.
Under the revised scheduled, the travel time of the train has been brought down to five hours and forty-five minutes instead of six hours.
“This is not a felt need and no one asked for speeding up as this is an overnight train. Although technically the train meets the super fast norm of 55 km per hour, it hardly offers any benefit to the passengers. Earlier, it was doing 53 km per hour,” says S. Pushpavanam, Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu.
Besides, with the super fast surcharge of Rs. 45 on AC classes and Rs. 30 on sleeper class, the passenger has to spend more and has to shell out taxi or auto fare to reach the railway station in unearthly hours, he contends.
Echoing similar sentiments, M. Sekaran, president, Air, Rail and Road Travellers Federation, said: “The move will adversely affect the interest of the passengers. In Chennai, public transport system is very limited after 10 p.m. and travellers will find it difficult to reach the railway station to board the train. Beside, a large numbers of passengers board the train at Mambalam and Tambaram. Under the new schedule, passengers would have to board the train at Mambalam at 11.45 p.m. and at midnight at Tambaram. This being a night train operated for the convenience of passengers, the change will only come as a nightmare.”
No consultation
The Railways has not bothered to consult passengers or service associations before deciding to change the time, he regretted and appealed to the Chairman, Railway Board to consider the genuine grievance of the passengers.
The revised schedule will badly affect the passengers as they will be able to sleep less than five hours on what is supposed to be an overnight train, said H. Ghouse Baig, a consumer activist.
Mr. Pushpavanam too felt that trains should be run for the convenience of passengers.
“Passengers who have to pay much more for disturbed sleep are not likely to bless the Railways. I am afraid the Railways are working overtime to get a bad name for the present government as this move will affect patronage, which it can hardly afford,” observes Mr. Pushpavanam.
He demanded that the railway retain the trains as express service, forego the super fast surcharge and earn the goodwill of passengers.
at No comments:
Labels:

Heavy downpour in Sirkazhi, Kollidam

A directly sown paddy field submerged at Puliyanthurai village in Nagapattinam district  

Sirkazhi records 309 mm of rainfall



Heavy rain pounded Nagapattinam district inundating large swathes of agricultural fields. Residential localities in Sirkazhi and Kollidam were also inundated. Two cows were killed in a wall collapse at Narayanapuram near Sirkazhi.
The sky opened up in Sirkazhi, which recording a whopping 309 mm of rainfall during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday. Most other parts of the district too received very heavy rainfall during the period with Kollidam recording 239 mm, Manalmedu 158 mm, Tirupoondi 121.4 mm, Talaignayar 108 mm, Mayiladuthurai 102.6, Nagapattinam 95.20, Vedaranyam 80.6 mm and Tranquebar 76 mm.
Water was found stagnating above the level of storm water drains in almost all wards of Sirkazhi Municipality, and the fear of water ingress into households in the event of continuity of downpour loomed large.
Likewise, rainwater inundated several villages in Kollidam area and agricultural fields with directly sown paddy in Aachalpuram, Arapallam, Pulianthurai, Muthalmedi, Mahendrapalli, Alakutti, and Kudakkaramullai.
The tiled roof of an old structure housing the buildings of the Fire and Rescue Service Department in Nagapattinam town, which was vacated due to fear of collapse, gave away . The fire station was shifted to an unused building on the premises of the office of Nagapattinam Panchayat Union. Revenue Divisional Officer of Nagapattinam M. Kannan inspected the weak structure of the erstwhile fire station and ordered demolition of the building.
District Collector S. Suresh Kumar said inter-departmental teams had been formed in each of the eight blocks in the district and immediate assistance would be provided as and when sought through the helpline 1077. Twenty-two canals had been identified as flood prone, and Zonal Officers had been entrusted with the responsibility of evacuating people residing in encroachments along the waterbodies and housing them in safe buildings.
Twenty-seven vulnerable locations, 47 potentially vulnerable locations, 119 moderately vulnerable locations, and 201 minimally vulnerable locations had been identified, and 1,375 first-level responders had been deployed for arranging assistance, the Collector said.
In 270 fair price shops in low-lying areas, stocks that would last for two months had been stored. The stocks included 2,432 metric tonnes of rice and 60,000 kilolitres of kerosene. Wireless mikes had been kept ready to make important announcements.
The district administration, the Collector said, had seen through desilting of 2779 tanks under government control. Twenty-nine flood relief centres had been established. For accommodating people displaced by floods, buildings in 293 schools, 23 colleges, 15 community centres, and 144 other buildings had been kept ready, he said.
at No comments:
Labels:

GRH Dean asked to file report

A single bench of Justice R. Mahadevan of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday, hearing a petition seeking compensation for medical negligence, directed the Dean, Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai, to conduct a medical examination of the petitioner, examine her previous medical records and file a report.
The petitioner, P. Akila, was present before the court with her medical records. The petitioner said that she suffered excessive and continuous urination following hysterectomy in a government hospital. When she approached a private hospital for treatment of the condition, investigation revealed that her uterine and urinary tubes were merged.
She claimed that she had to undergo a lot of pain and suffering due to a negligent surgery and the condition had resulted in dehydration, abdominal pain, urinary disturbance and severe fever. She sought a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for the medical negligence. A petition was submitted to the Tiruchi Collector seeking assistance and appropriate action. However, no action was taken.
The petitioner contended that she had to pledge or sell her mother’s jewels and obtain loans from relatives to meet the medical expenses as she was in a bad financial state. She sought compensation from the respondent government hospital for the medical negligence. She had also made a plea for treatment at a multi-speciality hospital at government expense.
The case has been posted for further hearing to November 7.
at No comments:
Labels:

It is now MGR bus stand at Mattuthavani

Changed, at last:As announced by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Mattuthavani integrated bus stand in Madurai has been renamed MGR bus stand.Photo: R. AshokR_ASHOK  

New name board shines on the premises

With Madurai Corporation installing a new name board, Mattuthavani integrated bus stand formally became M.G.R. bus stand on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had announced during the birth centenary celebration of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran in Madurai that the bus stand would be named after the late leader.
However, the change did not come into effect even after a few months of the announcement.
Madurai North MLA V.V. Rajan Chellappa had made an appeal through the media to implement the name change at the earliest. A government order for changing the name was passed recently, following which the Municipal Corporation installed the new name board.
at No comments:
Labels:

HC allows filing of returns without quoting Aadhaar

Petitioner rests case on SC decision

The Madras High Court on Tuesday permitted an income tax assessee to file her returns for assessment year 2017-18 either manually or through e-filing system without insisting upon the Aadhaar number.
Justice T.S. Sivagnanam granted the interim order on a writ petition filed by advocate Preeti Mohan since Tuesday was the last day for filing the returns. The judge pointed out that the balance of convenience was in favour of the petitioner as she may have to end up paying penalty for belated payment of tax .
The petitioner’s case rested upon an interim decision taken by the Supreme Court in Binoy Viswam’s case on June 9 this year. In that case, the apex court was dealing with the validity of Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act of 1961 which makes it mandatory to quote Aadhaar number in the return of income as well as application for PAN card.
Mr. Justice Sivagnanam pointed out that the Supreme Court had held that the PAN cards held by the income tax assessees could not be treated as invalid until the validity of Section 139AA was tested against the touchstone of Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution as well as the right to privacy and human dignity.
at No comments:
Labels:

College faculty faces HC heat for ‘frivolous’ case

The Madras High Court has imposed costs of Rs. 25,000 on a teaching staff employed with the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Institute of Engineering and Technology for having filed a public interest litigation petition seeking issuance of a writ of quo warranto against the officiating principal of the institution.
The first Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar, ordered that the cost imposed on the PIL petitioner, V. Prasath, should be deducted from his salary deposited with the Registrar General of the High Court.
The judges pointed out that the petitioner had questioned the appointment of A. Kumar as an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science Engineering in PKIET and alleged that the latter did not possess the requisite eligibility as per the recruitment rules to be appointed to the post.
“It appears to us that this writ petition filed by a faculty member, is, ex facie, frivolous and is prompted by ulterior intent.
“There can be no public interest. An appointment cannot be challenged once the appointment assumes finality,” the Division Bench said and dismissed the case with costs.
at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)

NEWS TODAY 06.12.2025