‘Release of Rajiv killers unfair to 15 others who died’

Jun 14, 2018, 04.14 AM IST

 

By- Americai V Narayanan

The recent intelligence information on an assassination plot on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a "Rajiv Gandhi assassination style" has coincidentally come in a week when political voices in Tamil Nadu have renewed their demands for the release of Rajiv’s killers. The state government has said that it will wait for the Centre to take a decision on the issue for which the Supreme Court has given the Centre three months’ time.



PMK leader S Ramadoss recently appealed for their release under Article 161 of the Constitution that gives state governments the power to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases. Other leaders from the state like MDMK’s Vaiko are known to be close to the LTTE. Whether the state government has the power to release convicts who have been sentenced by the Supreme Court (they were originally on death row which was commuted to life sentence due to the delay in execution) is a legal question. But there is a deeper ethical question that persists.

Several grounds are being cited for the release of the convicts, the primary of which is that "Rajiv Gandhi’s own children — Rahul and Priyanka have forgiven the killers". The death sentence of Nalini, one of the convicts, was commuted to a life term on humanitarian grounds as she was pregnant. Priyanka Gandhi had also met Nalini at Vellore jail in 2008. However a line has to be drawn between a family making peace with their violent past, and bringing justice to the loss the country has faced both in terms of security and leadership — not to mention that 15 other people were killed in that blast along with the former Prime Minister.

While as a Congressman, I admire the magnanimity shown by Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in pardoning the convicted, this is unfortunately being perceived as a weakness. The call for release of the assassins as a political tool has become a regular occurrence in Tamil Nadu politics that is making a mockery of law and justice. One wonders if the parties and Tamil fringe elements would make a similar demand for release of perpetrators if one of their own party leaders faced a similar fate. J Jayalalithaa (who herself rode on the sympathy wave of Rajiv’s assassination in 1991 to come to power) passed a resolution to release the killers in 2011 in the Tamil Nadu assembly. The case is still sub judice – families of the victims of 1991 had moved the Supreme Court in 2014 against the release of the killers.

The unanimous support on this issue is a rare moment of bipartisanship among Dravidian parties, each trying to outdo the other to gain political mileage by appeasing people who support elements that have allegedly espoused "the Tamil cause". These parties conveniently ignore that the brutal assassination at Sriperumbudur was essentially a wholesale import of terrorism to the soil of Tamil Nadu that was largely peaceful earlier — not to mention it was the first instance of a human bomb being used in India. If these parties truly advocate the welfare of Tamils, they would stand in solidarity with the families of the 15 other Tamil Indians who had been killed in the bomb blast with Rajiv Gandhi.

Political parties in Tamil Nadu need to stop flogging a dead horse and realise that the people of the state have moved on and have more pressing needs. We as a nation need to act with conviction against those who have threatened our sovereignty. It will set a terrible precedent if we were to allow the release of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins on the basis of whims and fancies of politics.

Verdict is a divine intervention, Madurai Kamaraj University VC Chellathurai says

TNN | Jun 14, 2018, 08.12 PM IST

 

CHENNAI: Former Madurai Kamaraj University vice- chancellor P P Chellathurai, whose appointment to the post was set aside by the Madras high court on Thursday, said the court verdict was a "divine intervention."

In a brief telephonic conversation with TOI, Chellathurai hinted that he would take up the option to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court.

"I don't wish to comment on the verdict," he said and added that though the ruling was a huge setback, he viewed it as a divine intervention.

Parent documents mandatory for land registrations

TNN | Jun 15, 2018, 12.32 AM IST

Cleared

Chennai, June 14: Three days after mandating parent documents for registering properties, the registration department has eased the process. Now, the sub registrar offices will accept statement from banks that they were in possession of the parent documents, in case of mortgage. This apart, a written undertaking is necessary for laminated parent document that cannot be scanned for registrations. Furnishing parent document was mandated from Monday to prevent fraudulent registrations.

In a circular, the inspector general of registration said that people, whose parent documents are with the financial institutions, can furnish statement from the respective banks that financial institutions are possessing the parent documents. The statement can be considered as a document for registrations, it added. As far as registration of plots and flats are concerned, the parent document was required to facilitate registration of the first unit from the same property. "However, the parent document is must during the resale of property to another person," the circular added.

The registrations department made parent document an essential document for property registrations, wherein the document would be completely scanned by the sub registrar ahead of processing the registration. However, sources said, it caused inconvenience for the public since not all those registering their properties had the parent document, which are lying in different places including mortgaged with banks. Also scanning every document at the sub registrar office led to delay in registrations.

Southern Rly delays arrival time of six trains by 30 minutes

TNN | Jun 15, 2018, 01.04 AM ISTChennai: In an unprecedented move, at least six passenger trains coming to Chennai have been slowed down by 30 minutes by Southern Railway from Tuesday. There has been no official communication in this regard.
The trains are Mysuru-Chennai Shatabdi Express, Bengaluru-Chennai Lalbagh Express, the Delhi-Chennai Garib Rath Express, Nizamuddin-Chennai Rajdhani Express, Coimbatore-Chennai Kovai Express and Jolarpet to Chennai Yelagiri express. The arrival time of Garib Rath at Chennai Central has been delayed by an hour, while for others it has been delayed for an hour.

The details were obtained from Indian Railways official train tracking application (National Train Enquiry System). The changes have not yet been made in the reservation inquiry websites. Officials did not respond to queries if it was permanent or temporary.

Sources in the traffic wing of Southern Railway said that these measures were taken after the Union railway minister Piyush Goyal had indicated that safety has to take precedence. Because of this, it was proposed to carry out a number of long-pending track renewal works in Trivandrum, Salem and Chennai divisions, sources said. On the other hand, the ministry has also indicated that officials would be appraised based on punctuality of trains.

“Due to these works, trains are getting delayed and punctuality figures are getting affected. Hence the running time has been increased to give some breathing space for the officials,” said a source.

Two judgments, no verdict: HC bench split over MLAs case

TNN | Jun 15, 2018, 05.49 AM IST 

CHENNAI: Political uncertainty in Tamil Nadu is bound to continue for some more time as the first bench of the Madras high court on Thursday delivered a split verdict in the '18 MLAs disqualification case'.



While Chief Justice Indira Banerjee upheld the assembly speaker's September 18, 2017 order stripping 18 rebel AIADMK legislators of their posts, saying scope of judicial review was limited, her companion judge Justice M Sundar quashed the speaker's decision, saying the MLAs' act of alleged defection was not 'clear, categoric and unambiguous." They were disqualified on September 18, 2017 under anti-defection rules for having submitted a memorandum to the Tamil Nadu governor withdrawing their support to chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. On September 20, the court asked the election commission not to treat them as vacancies and hold byelections. The first bench reserved its order on January 23.

On Thursday, in a development that would prolong the uncertainty on the status of the MLAs, and consequently the stability of the government, the judges failed to reach a consensus over the issue. They referred the matter to the next senior-most judge of the court so as to be posted before a third judge for hearing. The bench also made it clear that the bar on holding bypoll to 18 seats would continue. In her order, Chief Justice Banerjee said that though orders of the speaker under the Tenth Schedule were amenable to judicial review, the scope of such review is limited to violation of constitutional mandate, mala fides, non-compliance with rules of natural justice and perversity.

‘Sauce for goose is sauce for gander too’

A mere irregularity in procedure can have no bearing on the decision,” the judge added.

However, Justice Sundar set aside the order saying it was hit by all four grounds of judicial review -- perversity, non-compliance with principles of natural justice, mala fides and violation of constitutional mandate.”

AIADMK legislator S T K Jakkaiyan was another flashpoint. Though he was among the 19 MLAs who submitted the damning memorandum to the governor, was issued a showcause notice and he submitted replies too, he was not disqualified as he had crossed over to the ruling side.

“It is not necessary to enter into the question of whether the disqualification has rightly or wrongly been dismissed against Jakkaiyan. Suffice it to note that there can be no equality to a wrong and two wrongs do not make a right,” said Chief Justice Banerjee. But Justice Sundar said: “The court is unable to brush aside the complaint that different yardsticks have been applied to them on one hand and S T K Jakkaiyan on the other hand in the same impugned order, depending on political exigencies.” When it is the stated position of the speaker that the Tenth Schedule is attracted the moment the petitioners gave representation to the governor, Jakkaiyan also should stand disqualified. “After all, the age-old adage is ‘what is sauce to the goose is sauce to the gander too', he said.

MISSION ADMISSION

MBBS aspirants anxious as registration site acts up

Yogita.Rao@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:

Medical aspirants who have been given just six days for the registration process for admission to state (15% all-India quota), central and deemed universities are facing a harrowing time on the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) website. Their problems range from server issues to poor response on helpline numbers to changes introduced in the registration process this year.

With two of the six days already gone, several students are now worried about completion of the process.

Last year, the MCC and directorate general of health services (DGHS) had a more student-friendly site with screenshots of each step of the process. This year, several of these features are missing, said a parent.

“There is no user manual, no interactive board and it is difficult to get through the helpline numbers. The list of central universities does not mention Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) which has many takers. The site only has FAQs, which is not enough,” said a parent of an AFMC aspirant whose all-India rank is within 600.

Another parent said after they keyed in their child’s roll number, they were prompted with a message that said ‘you are not permitted to register for counselling’. “After several attempts, I called the helpline number. An official who answered tried logging in for us but failed. He then asked us to send a screenshot of the error
message. We are praying that the problem gets resolved.”

Sudha Shenoy from a medical parents’ organization said that several parents faced a problem while paying the deposit fee online. For the first time, to avoid vacancies in institutes, the MCC has sought a deposit of Rs 2 lakh, which will be forfeited if the students don’t take the seat allotted to them in the second round. Shenoy said the state process should have started before the deemed universities’, as for many expensive deemed colleges are the last option. “They will be worried about filling options in the second round as they may lose the deposit if they don’t take it.”

A DGHS official said the government decided to give only six days for the registration process when more than 50% of the students who have appeared for the test have qualified — around seven lakh. “The sheer volume of candidates trying to log on to the site only for a limited number of days is the main problem. But we had around 40,000 registering on the first day (Wednesday) and the numbers will improve. We have over 30 helplines. There are a few changes in the user interface, and we have received queries . We are trying to rectify it.” On the missing AFMC, he said the MCC is only doing a partial registration for the institute, the rest is done at the institute level. “Once students register, it will be visible,” he added. 

மூன்றாவது நீதிபதி எப்படி தீர்ப்பளித்தாலும் ஆட்சிக்கு சிக்கல்?- ஒரு அலசல்

Published : 14 Jun 2018 16:04 IST


மு.அப்துல் முத்தலீஃப் சென்னை




ஸ்டாலின், எடப்பாடி, டிடிவி தினகரந் கோப்புப் படம்


18 எம்.எல்.ஏக்கள் வழக்கில் எப்படி தீர்ப்பு வந்தாலும் ஆட்சிக்கு சிக்கல் என்ற கருத்து வைக்கப்படுகிறது. தற்போது 3-து நீதிபதி அமர்வுக்கு மாற்றப்பட்டாலும் தீர்ப்பு எப்படி வந்தாலும் அது ஆளும் அரசுக்கு சிக்கலை தோற்றுவிக்கும் என்கின்ற கருத்து வைக்கப்படுகிறது.

18 எம்.எல்.ஏக்கள் வழக்கில் தகுதி நீக்கம் செல்லும், செல்லாது என இரண்டு வகையில் நீதிமன்றம் தீர்ப்பளித்துள்ளது. இதன் மூலம் ஆளுங்கட்சிக்கு சிக்கல் உள்ளதாக சட்ட வல்லுநர்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றனர்.

  இது குறித்து இந்த நிகழ்வுகளை உன்னிப்பாக கவனித்து வரும் அரசியல் ஆர்வலர் ஒருவர் கூறியதாவது:

தமிழக சட்டப்பேரவையின் மொத்த உறுப்பினர் எண்ணிக்கை 234 இதில் 18 எம்.எல்.ஏக்கள் தகுதி நீக்கம் செய்யப்பட்டதால் எண்ணிக்கை 216 ஆக உள்ளது. அதனால் மெஜாரிட்டிக்கு 109 பேர் தேவை என்ற நிலையில் 110 பேர் உள்ள எடப்பாடி ஆட்சிக்கு பிரச்சினை இல்லாமல் உள்ளது.

தலைமை நீதிபதி அமர்வில் இரண்டு நீதிபதிகளும் இருவேறு தீர்ப்பை வெளியிட்ட நிலையில், மூன்றாவது நீதிபதிக்கு வழக்கு மாற்றப்பட்ட நிலையில் வழக்கின் விசாரணை காரணமாக மேலும் 3 மாதங்கள் தள்ளி போகலாம்.

மூன்றாவது நீதிபதி எப்படி தீர்ப்பளிப்பார். அவர் இரண்டு வகையில் தீர்ப்பளிக்கலாம். நீக்கம் செல்லும் என்று அறிவித்தால் காலியாகும் 18 எம்.எல்.ஏக்கள் இடங்களுக்கு 6 மாதத்துக்குள் இடைத்தேர்தல் நடத்தப்பட வேண்டும்.

அவ்வாறு இடைத்தேர்தல் நடக்கும் பட்சத்தில் ஆளுங்கட்சியின் மீது மக்களுக்கு கடுமையான வெறுப்பு உள்ள சூழ்நிலையில், மெகா கூட்டணி அமைத்து போட்டியிடும் திமுக, மறுபுறம் டிடிவி தினகரனும் கடுமையான சவாலாக இருக்கும் பட்சத்தில் அதிமுக 18 எம்.எல்.ஏக்களை தக்கவைத்துக்கொள்வது சாத்தியமில்லாதது.

அப்படி வரும்பட்சத்தில் 18 எம்.எல்.ஏக்களை திமுக மற்றும் டிடிவி பங்குபோடவே வாய்ப்பு அதிகம். பெரிய கட்சியான திமுக கணிசமான இடத்தை கைப்பற்றும். அப்படி ஒரு நிலை வந்தால் திமுக ஆட்சி அமைக்கக்கூட வாய்ப்பு உண்டு. ஒருவேளை 18 எம்.எல்.ஏக்களை திமுகவும், டிடிவியும் பங்கு போட்டுக்கொண்டால் இருவரும் சேர்ந்து ஆட்சியை அமைக்கலாம், அல்லது கூட்டு வைக்காவிட்டால் அதிமுக ஆட்சி பெரும்பான்மை இழக்கும்.

ஒருவேளை தகுதி நீக்கம் செய்தது செல்லாது என்று தீர்ப்பு வந்தால் அதுவும் அரசுக்கு சிக்கல் தான். மேல்முறையீட்டிற்கு அரசு சென்றாலும் இரண்டு மாதங்களில் எதாவது ஒரு முடிவு வரும். ஒருவேளை உச்சநீதிமன்றம் தகுதி நீக்கம் செல்லும் என்று உயர்நீதிமன்ற தீர்ப்புக்கு எதிராக தீர்ப்பளித்தால் முன்பே கூறியபடி இடைத்தேர்தல் அடுத்து மேற்சொன்ன நிகழ்வுகள் கட்டாயம் நடந்தாக வேண்டும்.

அப்படி இருக்கும் பட்சத்தில் கடைசி ஆண்டு அதிமுக ஆட்சிக்கு பெரும் சிக்கலை உருவாக்கும் ஆண்டாக அமையும்.

ஒருவேளை உச்சநீதிமன்றம் தகுதி நீக்கம் செல்லாது என்ற உயர் நீதிமன்ற தீர்ப்பையே அங்கீகரித்தால் அடுத்த சில மாதங்களில் நம்பிக்கை வாக்கெடுப்பில் ஆட்சி கவிழும் ஆகவே தீர்ப்பு எப்படி வந்தாலும் அது ஆளுங்கட்சிக்கு சிக்கலான ஒன்றாக அமையும்.

எப்படிப்பார்த்தாலும் வழக்கு விசாரணை, உச்சநீதிமன்றத்தில் மேல் முறையீடு என்று ஒரு ஆண்டு சென்றாலும், அடுத்த ஆண்டு ஜூன் மாதத்திற்குள் இந்த அரசு ஏதாவது ஒரு சிக்கலை சந்தித்தே தீர வேண்டும். 2019 இறுதியில் ஆட்சி மாற்றம் அல்லது ஆட்சி கவிழ்ப்பு நிச்சயம், ஆட்சி தொடர்வதற்கான வாய்ப்பு பிரகாசமாக இல்லை.” இவ்வாறு அவர் தெரிவித்தார்.