MKU gets tough on irregularities

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, FEBRUARY 07, 2019 00:00 IST



A committee, headed by a retired judge, will be formed to investigate complaints of corruption and other irregularities in the office of Additional Controller of Examinations in the Directorate of Distance Education of Madurai Kamaraj University.File photoR_ASHOK


Panel to review appointments, promotions made during Chelladurai’s tenure


Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) Syndicate that met on Tuesday passed a number of resolutions to initiate enquiries on complaints of irregularities. This has brought cheer to the lobby that has been campaigning to clean up the affairs of the varsity.

An important decision taken at the meeting was to constitute a committee to review all the appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff of the university and its constituents colleges, and promotions of faculty members made during the tenure of former Vice-Chancellor P.P. Chellathurai, whose appointment was set aside by the Madras High Court.

This was the first Syndicate meeting after the new Vice-Chancellor, M. Krishnan, took charge last month.

Higher Education Secretary Mangat Ram Sharma, Law Department Secretary S.S. Poovalingam, who are ex-officio members of the Syndiciate, also attended the meeting.

A resolution was passed to form a committee headed by a retired judge to investigate complaints of corruption and other irregularities in the office of Additional Controller of Examinations in the Directorate of Distance Education, which is now held by M. Rajarajan.

Sources privy to the proceedings said many complaints were received against the office, primarily in relation to conduct of examinations and issuance of certificates. The enquiry committee would not include anyone from the university, sources said.

Harassment complaint

The report of the Internal Complaints Committee on a harassment complaint filed by a female research scholar against Head of the Centre for Film and Electronic Media Studies K. Karnamaharajan, which found the Professor to be guilty, was discussed at the meeting.

University sources, however, said the punitive action to be taken against him would be finalised after seeking legal opinion.

On a report on the issues prevailing in six constituent colleges of the MKU, sources said the Syndicate decided to review the qualifications of the Principals and remove them if they did not meet the criteria and instead depute Professors of the MKU or appoint retired Professors as Principals.

Court seeks review of govt. land assigned to educational institutions

Legal Correspondent

CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 07, 2019 00:00 IST

Rejects writ petition filed by Vellore Institute of Technology

The Madras High Court has directed the State government to review all old assignment of government lands to private educational institutions as well as other entities in the State and take steps to retrieve the properties if such assignments were found to be irregular.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam directed the Revenue Secretary to issue suitable instructions to all Collectors in the State to verify and review the assignment of government lands to private bodies and submit reports to the government.

The order was passed while rejecting a writ petition filed by Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) in 2005 seeking a direction to the State government to assign 41.92 acres of government poromboke land at Katpadi village in Vellore district in favour of the institution on payment of a reasonable consideration. Though the institution claimed that it was in occupation of the poromboke land, as well as other parcels of lands in its immediate vicinity, since its inception as Vellore Engineering College in 1984, the government refused to assign the property on the ground that it was required for construction of a government sports complex.

Additional Advocate General S.R. Rajagopal brought it to the notice of the court that the entire 41.92 acres of land had already been allotted to Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) for constructing a sports complex and encouraging the youngsters in the vicinity to participate in various sporting activities.

The entire 41.92 acres of land had been allotted to SDAT for constructing a sports complex

PM to open Metro Rail’s last stretch on Feb. 10

Sunitha Sekar

CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 07, 2019 00:00 IST




The 10-km line from AG-DMS to Washermanpet will complete the first phase


Finally, after years of waiting, commuters can travel through the entire 45-km of Chennai Metro Rail when the 10-km stretch from AG-DMS to Washermanpet opens on February 10. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswamy will inaugurate the stretch from Tiruppur.

Highly placed sources told The Hindu that Mr. Modi will throw open the final stretch through video conference from Tiruppur.

“Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Housing And Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister for Industries M.C. Sampath are likely to be present for the inauguration ceremony at Chennai Central Metro Rail station,” a source said.

The construction of Chennai Metro Rail’s phase I project at a cost of Rs. 14,600 crore has been on for nearly seven years.

Underground

The final 10-km stretch from AG-DMS to Washermanpet is entirely underground and has stations at Washermanpet, Mannady, Madras High Court, Chennai Central, Government Estate, LIC, Thousand Lights and AG-DMS. The stretch received the final safety approval from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) in the last week of January.

Commuters can travel from Washermanpet to the Chennai airport, a distance of nearly 21 km, in about 45 minutes.

Live streaming of sub-registrar offices from February 15

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 07, 2019 00:00 IST





Besides providing quick and transparent services, it will check impersonation to a great extent


The Registration Department will start live streaming of registration of documents and marriages on February 15. Work on installation of Internet Protocol (IP) cameras will be completed next week. The recorded video would also be stored in the 575 offices of the Department for one year.

“This will reduce impersonation to a great extent,” said J. Kumaragurubaran, Inspector General of Registration Department.

According to officials, the new system has been conceived with the aim of providing quick and transparent services and providing evidence of document execution by the registrants. This is also expected to curtail the movement of touts in the offices and safeguard against illegal activities during the registration processes. Senior officials would be able to monitor the activities of sub-registrar offices from the headquarters and respective zonal offices.

The proceedings recorded at the time of registration of documents and marriages can be used to prove that the registration is fraudulent and would be permissible as evidence for any enquiry on impersonation or fraudulent registrations.

Copied in DVDs

The project has been designed as a self-revenue generating model. The video and snapshot recorded at the time of registration of a document or marriage will be copied in a DVD and will be given to the registrants on payment of Rs. 50 per DVD.

The vendor, appointed through ELCOT, will complete work on the viewing facility at the office of the Inspector General of Registration and nine Zonal DIG offices. The IP camera operators have been appointed by the identified vendor to work in all sub-registrar offices for preparing and writing the DVDs and maintaining the devices linked to IP cameras. Estimated cost of the project for five years is Rs. 90.33 crore.

All the 575 sub-registrar offices have been provided with three IP cameras. One to capture the registration recordings above the sub-registrar, the second at the entrance of the record room and the third outside the office premises. The facility would capture voice recording in the entire premises with precision.

The recordings will be saved in network video recorder of 12 TB capacity and stored for at least one year and it is programmed to be removed by first in first out method. After completion of the registration process, officials would return the document to the citizen along with DVD pouch in a ‘document preservation cover’.

Senior officials will be able to monitor the activities from the headquarters and zonal offices.

Officials

Leaky buildings force many residents to leave Perumbakkam

Vivek Narayanan

CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 07, 2019 00:00 IST



Those continuing to stay want TNSCB to rectify problem

It has been just three years since residents moved into the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) tenements in Ezhil Nagar, Perumbakkam, but already many of the houses have started leaking.

Many have shifted to rented houses near their old dwelling place because of the problem.

There are thousands of families living in Perumbakkam Ezhil Nagar tenements, who all moved in about three years ago.

“The leakage, due to poor pipeline and infrastructure, is present in all the blocks and particularly intense at the M, L,K, D, E and C blocks. We will be submitting a signed petition to the TNSCB chairman in the coming days,” said Kumar (name changed), a resident of the locality.

The residents have been pushed to the extreme as there has been no action from the TNSCB despite repeated complaints.

Many residents have placed buckets near the walls from where water drips.

“Every day we empty at least four such buckets,” he added. A newborn was lying on a wet bed in M Block and the family said they had no other option.

“The walls are always damp. When the water is pumped into the tank on the terrace, the leakage is more. We even tried painting the house to reduce the damage, but nothing works,” added Shyamala (name changed), another resident.

Due to this problem, many residents have vacated houses.

“Those who can afford rent in the city have moved out as it is impossible to even cook food or sleep inside the house. Most of them have a sore throat,” she added.

Dangerous situation

Even the rooms in which electricity meters are kept are leaking.

“We are living in constant danger. We are not sure when the building will come crumbling down. Whenever we inform the local TNSCB official, they just visit and ask us to do the patch work,” added another resident.

Residents want the TNSCB to rectify the problem permanently at the earliest.

“Even children fall ill often. The government should do something about it. They should form committees to monitor the condition of the buildings,” added Shyamala.

A senior TNSCB official said that they will be rectifying the issue.

Medical college asked to refund excess fees

BENGALURU, FEBRUARY 07, 2019 00:00 IST

Coming down heavily on a private medical college in Davangere, the Admission Overseeing Committee (AOC) has asked the college management to refund the excess fee charged over and above the tuition fee stipulated by the government. The committee, in an order last month, asked J.J.M. Medical College to refund the excess fee collected from students for two academic years with a 6% interest.

From a quiet island to the hustle and bustle of tinsel town

Sindhu.Viijayakumar@timesgroup.com

TOI 07.02.2019

Actress Sonia Vikram has reasons to smile. The television serial, Azhagi, which was aired on a popular TV channel for about five years, is now being aired online. All thanks to the popularity of her character, Divya. Sonia talks to us about her foray into television and her Kollywood debut...

She’d never ever dreamt of being an actor. For, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where she hails from, entertainment meant watching Hindi serials, she recalls.

However, it was a chance meeting with a film crew that piqued her interest and led her to pursue a career as an actor. “Life on the island is totally different from that here (Chennai). It’s a very small place, with very few people, and everyone knows one another. My dad is a businessman and I have two elder brothers. But dad’s word is the law in our family. Unfortunately, one of my brothers went missing and that kind of messed up things in the family. Everything went topsy-turvy and, that was the time that I was spotted by a film crew that was on a location hunt on the island.”

Sonia says that she was on her way to the school, and was waiting for the bus at a stop close to her house when a film crew passed by in a car.

“Spotting me, they reversed the car and asked me whether I would be interested in acting in a film. And that is how it all began,” says Sonia.


SONIA VIKRAM

‘My dream is now coming true’

“I was scared and told them to contact my parents. With the help of a known person, they reached home and tried convincing my dad. My dad was furious and said no immediately. For people on the island, the entertainment industry is not something that they want their children to be in. But the film’s crew didn’t lose hope. They kept visiting us along with their family members. Meanwhile, my dad fell ill and just as family members do, the crew called on my father. Though that gave my family some confidence in them, they still didn’t allow me to go to Chennai.”

After a year, with the support of her mother, Sonia decided to come to Chennai, after all. “By this time, we had come to know that my brother was in Chennai, and I assured my mother that I will find him and bring him back. I think she agreed to send me only because of that.”

However, Chennai was totally different from what she had imagined, she says. “When I came here, I realised life can be harsh. I had a very secure and protected upbringing on the island. My relative, who I thought would give me shelter, refused to accommodate me, and I found myself on the streets.”

With no support and money, she was stranded. But she says that she didn’t want to let her parents know about her plight, or return to the island. “I found a hostel and started staying there and got in touch with the film’s crew. Through their reference, I got in touch with the TV industry. Soon, I started getting offers for doing television serials. My first serial was Vellai Thamarai, in which I played the female lead. In the soap, they kept my name for my character, too,” she recalls.

However, it was Azhagi and Munthanai Mudichu that propelled Sonia to stardom. “I played Divya in Azhagi and my character’s name was Meena in Munthanai Mudichu. Both the characters became very popular that people almost forgot my original name,” she chuckles.

Sonia got married to Vikram, a businessman, in 2015. “Not many could attend the wedding, since it was at that time the flood ravaged Chennai,” she says.

Sonia says she realised the power of her characters and the reach of television, while on a visit to a temple in Maharashtra. “One woman saw me praying at Shirdi and recognised me. And by the time we reached Shani Shingnapur, she had assembled a contingent and all of them wanted to click photos with me. More than me, it were my in-laws who were proud of my popularity,” she says. Recalling another incident when an old man came and hit her, she says, “I was picking up some knick-knacks at a shop. All of a sudden, an old man came running and punched me on the head. I didn’t know what was happening. My husband came to my rescue and when questioned, the man said that he was upset that in the previous episode I had said I am committing suicide. ‘Thappu illa adhellam? Eppudi Divya nee appadi sollalam?’ was his argument.”

After doing several powerful roles in nearly a dozen television serials for various channels, Sonia says she decided to take a break. “I was shooting three to four schedules per day, and it took a toll on my health.”

However, the actress in her doesn’t want to call it quits. “I left Andaman to act in films and now that dream is close to being realised. I will be playing a surrogate mother in Thaayme, a film directed by Samaran.”

It’s a strong role, she says, “In fact, the director asked me to choose the role. It’s a female-centric movie and there are two female lead characters. But I found the second lead more challenging and opted for that,” she says.

Sonia is happy that she has found a foothold in the entertainment industry and has made her parents and her entire island proud. “I am the first one from the island to enter the television industry. They have all subscribed to Tamil television channels, thanks to my serials, and they keep sending me their wishes and feedback.”

Before signing off, she says, “Though my dad doesn’t show it, I know that he is super proud of me. Also, I have reached out to my brother, and soon, I hope, we will all be one happy family again.”


SONIA VIKRAM

SPOTTING ME, THEY REVERSED THE CAR AND ASKED ME WHETHER I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN ACTING IN A FILM

THOUGH MY DAD DOESN’T SHOW IT, I KNOW THAT HE IS SUPER PROUD OF ME. ALSO, I HAVE REACHED OUT TO MY BROTHER, AND SOON, I HOPE, WE WILL ALL BE ONE HAPPY FAMILY AGAIN WHEN I CAME TO CHENNAI, I REALISED LIFE CAN BE HARSH. I HAD A VERY PROTECTED UPBRINGING ON THE ISLAND. HERE, MY RELATIVE, WHO I THOUGHT WOULD GIVE ME SHELTER, REFUSED TO ACCOMMODATE ME