High court appoints former judge Rajeswaran to head PT Lee Trust

TNN | Updated: Nov 12, 2017, 00:01 IST

Chennai: The Madras high court has appointed former judge of the court, Justice S Rajeswaran, as chairman of PT Lee Chengalvaraya Naicker Trust, one of the biggest and richest in the state.

The court has also appointed nine trustees to assist the chairman, and empowered him to report deviant behaviour of trustees, if any, to the court.

Justice R Subramanian passed the order while allowing an application moved by the trust for appointment of a chairman for its administration.

This apart, the court also rejected an objection raised by P T Lee Chengalvaraya Naicker Polytechnic College Staff Association that as per the composition of the board of trustees, there could only be four persons from the Vanniyar community.

"There is no such prescription in the scheme decree. While appointing trustees under the scheme decree, this court can only consider the desirability or suitability of the candidates, who had applied. A perusal of the entire set of 101 applications, shows that 98 applications are from people belonging to Vanniyar community. The scheme decree does not prescribe that the Vanniyar community should not have a representation of more than four people. If there are no applicants from the other communities, this court cannot go in search of persons and invite them to file the applications to be nominated as trustees," the judge said.

The court then directed the newly appointed trustees to take charge November 15 and posted the plea to November 17 for reporting compliance.

500 depositors petition cops against chit fund, Rs 200 crore scam suspected

A Selvaraj| TNN | Updated: Nov 12, 2017, 00:12 IST

Chennai: More than 500 people have approached the city police, with a complaint that a chit fund company had shut shop without returning their deposits nor paying interest as promised. Thripura Chit Fund had more than 150 branches in the state including Chennai Bangalore, Mysore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chengalpet, Calicut, Puducherry and Nellore.

Police suspect the business to be a scam involving more than Rs 200 crore. Despite several complaints pouring in from different parts of the state for the past two months, neither the city police nor police attached to the economic offences wing (EOW) have registered any FIRs so far. Many police personnel asked the complainants to approach the Saidapet police station as the company's headquarters was situated in the area falling under the Saidapet police's purview.

A police officer said, "The complainants have given petitions against the chit fund firm as they failed to return money to the matured depositors."

When a group of people approached the firm demanding the management return their money, there was a commotion. Subsequently, the aggrieved depositors lodged police complaints.

As the news spread, depositors flooded police stations to file complaints against the firm. A police officer said, "Though the petitioners have submitted their complaints, they also asked us not to pursue any case, as the chit fund officials have promised to return money on or before Monday. So, we are also waiting for the confirmation from the petitioners."

A policeman at the Saidapet crime wing police station said, "We will register a cheating case and transfer it to EOW." Police sources said, "Police personnel are lying low at the moment as the chit fund officials are buying time to return money to the depositors."

Krishnaprasad Venkatrao Perumbude is the managing director of the chit fund firm registered in the year 2003 adding five more directors in 2011 and one more director in 2013.

Mosquito menace is man-made, says HC

TNN | Updated: Nov 12, 2017, 00:11 IST

Chennai: Blaming dengue and other such diseases on encroachments, violator-officer collusion and absence of setback space for buildings, the Madras high court said mosquito menace is man-made and there is a chain reaction for every such man-made wrong.

"Authorities turn a blind eye to construction of buildings that are in violation of Act and rules, and pave way for encroachments. Lakes, ponds and water channels are being clogged by buildings everywhere, for which the authorities are to be blamed," Justice S Vaidyanathan said.

The judge made the observations while quashing two orders the Salem corporation commissioner passed against a private hospital and an individual, slapping Rs 10 and Rs 15 lakh respectively for unhealthy conditions in their premises. The orders were passed as part of a dengue prevention drive initiated by the government across the state.

"A reading of the notice shows that no prior opportunity was given before imposition of fine. Admittedly, there is violation of principles of natural justice, as the fine amount is directly imposed upon the petitioners and not in accordance with the statute," the judge said.

The judge added that the severity of the menace was demonstrated by the sitting judges of the Madurai bench recently. The Madurai bench had asked staff to kill scores of mosquitoes with an electric racket, right on the judge's dais in the centrally air-conditioned court hall No 1.

Citizens should come forward to remove encroachments on their own. "Many of us do not value the importance of setback in houses. The area meant for setback is to ensure that water seeps in and such a provision has to be given in all buildings," Justice Vaidyanathan said.

IPS officer caught copying suspended

tnn | Nov 12, 2017, 00:24 IST

Chennai: The tainted trainee IPS officer Safeer Karim, who was arrested for copying using bluetooth and gadgets at the UPSC mains examinations at a centre in Egmore on October 30, has been placed under suspension as per the order of the state home secretary on Thursday.

Tamil Nadu state home secretary Niranjan Mardi issued the orders on Friday to place Safeer Karim under suspension under the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules. After he was apprehended on November 1 and detained in Puzhal prison, the city police sent a detailed report to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Based on their direction, the state home secretary issued the orders.

On October 30, Karim, a probationer, was found copying with the help of hi-tech devices in the examination held at the Presidency Girls' Higher Secondary School, Egmore.

Unauthorised pvt paramedical institute sealed in Villupuram

tnn | Nov 12, 2017, 01:17 IST

Villupuram: The district administration on Saturday sealed a private paramedical institute, which was apparently functioning without valid approval and affiliation, and arrested its principal on charges of harassing, assaulting and cheating girl students following a complaint from a section of students on Friday.

The arrested was identified as K Sathya, 29, principal of Sathya institute of paramedical sciences at Sankarapuram in the district. Her husband P Kalaimani, 38, who is the correspondent of the institute, absconded after learning that police have registered a case against him.

Police said a section of students from the institute submitted a petition to the district collector on Friday charging that the institute, which promised free nursing education, has forced them to work as home nurses to take care of ailing people in Chennai. They alleged that they were physically tortured and forced to do domestic and menial work, including cleaning toilets, at the patients' houses. They also charged that the institute, which collected fee for their services from the clients, failed to pay them.

They alleged that the institute correspondent and principal threatened them with dire consequences when they refused to work as domestic maids on the pretext of home nurses and insisted on placement in nursing homes and hospitals. They said the institute management threatened to withhold their school certificates and refused to provide diploma in nursing certificates if they failed to comply with the orders of the institute.

Sankarapuram police have registered a case against Kalaimani and Sathya under Sections 294 (obscene acts and songs), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 352 (punishment for assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation), 384 (punishment for extortion), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 506 (2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 (penalty for harassment of women) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998, following a direction from the district administration.

The institute, which has been functioning for the past eight years, offers several courses, including a two-year diploma in nursing. The institute, without any proper infrastructure, has been luring poor students on the pretext of extending free nursing education and forcing them to work as home nurses as part of internship.

It may be recalled that three girl students of a private medical college of yoga and naturopathy were found dead under mysterious circumstances in a well near the college at Chinna Salem in the district in January last year.

T Monisha from Chennai, E Saranya from Kancheepuram district and V Priyanka from Tiruvarur district were found dead in a well near the college under mysterious circumstances on January 23. Police claimed that the students committed suicide to register their protest against the management for collecting exorbitant fees. However, the parents of the girls charged that the girls were murdered and held the college management responsible for the murder.

'Searches by I-T ongoing at places belonging to associates of Sasikala'

TNN | Updated: Nov 12, 2017, 05:48 IST

I-T searches continued for the third day on Saturday at Jaya TV office and MD Vivek Jayaraman's house

CHENNAI: A senior I-T official said, "Vivek and his associates used the money from these bank accounts to buy movable and immovable properties worth several crores."

Searches were still continuing in some places, including Kodanad estate owned by Sasikala, because some lockers there were yet to be opened, the source said. "Our officials are questioning some people to ferret out more details about the seized documents," said the official.

The sleuths completed search operation in most places on Saturday. "But searches are continuing in Jaya TV office and houses of Vivek and Krishna Priya," the official said. Searches are going on at places belonging to various associates of Sasikala and her family in Cuddalore, Namakkal districts.

Searches at Jaaz Cinemas have led the I-T officials to another multiplex in the city. Officials have sought clarification on purchase of 11 screens by Jaaz Cinemas from the multiplex in 2015. The owners of the multiplex are being questioned.

With regard to some documents seized from Dhivaharan's premises at Mannargudi, officials are questioning his daughter Rajamathangi, a resident of Chennai.

"She had imported many foreign cars. We are probing the source of funds for those purchases. She is also being asked to explain the source and other details about the purchase of property.," another official said. In all, 355 people have so far come under the I-T scanner in this round of searches.

Tamil Nadu colleges create 16 thousand duplicate entries for government scholarships

Ram Sundaram| TNN | Updated: Nov 12, 2017, 05:44 IST



COIMBATORE: Collegesacross Tamil Nadu have created nearly 16,000 duplicate entries to receive Rs 3 crore in government scholarships earmarked for students belonging to the backward classes (BC), most backward classes (MBC), scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST), government records show.

With no validation mechanism in place, this has resulted in a windfall for some students - who have received the scholarship multiple times under different IDs within the same academic year - at the expense of others who should have benefited but were denied funding.

The state government through the BC, MBC & minorities welfare department and adi dravidar & tribal welfare department provides scholarships to students in Tamil Nadu under 11 different schemes including pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes. However, the state government had slashed scholarships for engineering, medicine, law and other students belonging to these communities citing a fund crunch.

Until 2009-10, conventional methods were used for disbursing the scholarship amount to students. A web-based application - Electronic Clearance System (ECS) - was introduced in the same year to make the entire transaction digital.

The scholarship amount was credited to individual bank accounts of students after the district-level authorities verified and sanctioned claims submitted through their respective colleges.

Government records show that district-level authorities in the said departments approved nearly 16,000 scholarship claims without scrutinising the records.

College authorities had created duplicate IDs for the same student. "There was no validation option available in the ECS software to reject multiple entries. Consequently, scholarships were granted multiple times to the same set of students," said government sources.

Besides this, government data suggests that nearly 5,000 bank accounts were used numerous times for disbursing the scholarship amount. Some of the accounts were used more than 70 times, said sources.

A district-level official from the adi dravidar welfare department said that an enquiry was initiated in 2016-17 in which some of the colleges claimed that they made multiple entries by mistake.

"To overcome this, changes have been made in the ECS this year (2017-18). Instructions have been given to verify Aadhaar card linked with bank accounts of all the beneficiaries so that there is no duplication," the official added.

Also, nearly 75,000 applications received by the departments between 2013-14 and 2015-16 remain pending at various stages. Authorities replied that necessary changes have been made to ensure that the pending applications were cleared soon.