Driving schools move court against glitch in new licences 

Legal Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, February 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Smart cards carry only temporary address, says association

The Madras High Court on Monday sought the response of the State government to a writ petition filed by South India Driving School Owners Federation complaining about new driving licences, issued in the form of smart cards, containing the address of driving schools and not that of the licence holders.

When the case was listed for admission, Justice D. Krishna Kumar ordered notices to the Transport Secretary as well as Transport Commissioner returnable by four weeks. In its affidavit, the federation said the applications for driving licences require applicants to fill their permanent as well as temporary address.

Temporary address

Most of the applicants fill their residential address in the column meant for mentioning the permanent address and the address of the driving schools in the column meant for temporary address. However, the smart cards issued to them contain only the temporary address which invariably happen to be the address of driving schools, it said.

“I state that incorporating the driving school address as the address of the licence holder is improper and incorrect. In the event of any untoward incident, the owners of driving schools have to face the situation,” S. Devadoss Gandhi, joint secretary of the federation, said and claimed that the officials failed to rectify the anomaly despite several requests.

School of Education to come up at MSU 

Special Correspondent 
 
TIRUNELVELI, February 15, 2019 00:00 IST

It will fine-tune skill of 38,000-odd teachers in this region

Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had released Rs. 11.50 crore under ‘Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching’ for establishing School of Education at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, its Vice-Chancellor K. Baskar said.

The school is meant to train school and college teachers through scientifically designed induction and post-induction training programmes.

He told reporters here on Thursday that it would shape 38,000-odd teachers in this region in a desirable and student-friendly fashion. The training modules would fine-tune their teaching practices.

Own buildings

Of 10 constituent colleges of MSU, which were established to provide quality higher education to poor students at affordable cost, nine colleges, except the one at Puliyangudi, will have own buildings during next academic year,.

The university’s cash reserve, which stood at Rs. 160 crore three years ago, stands at Rs. 212 crore due to a range of measures taken during the last three years.

The ‘file tracking system’ in the MSU administration is quite popular among the teaching and non-teaching faculty of the university and in affiliated colleges as he had set a deadline of clearing every file within 15 days.

Fund sanctioned

He said that Rs. 1.50 crore has been sanctioned to the university under Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Innovation and Research Scheme for developing Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) and Sodium ion batteries which can replace the costly Lithium ion batteries.

If the SOFC project can accomplish the expected outcome, it will end up in fabricating the energy efficient fuel cell with greater storage and will be very much useful for the armed forces deployed in remote areas, he said.

New VC for MSU 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, February 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Senior chemical scientist and administrator K. Pitchumani has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, by Governor-Chancellor Banwarilal Purohit. He will have a tenure of three years. Mr. Pitchumani has teaching experience for 37 years and is at present the CSIR Emeritus Scientist at the School of Chemistry in Madurai Kamaraj University.

He has also worked as visiting professor in the Academy of Sinica, Taipei, and Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan.

A release from the Raj Bhavan said Mr. Pitchumani “is experienced in university administration having functioned as Registrar in-charge and Chancellor nominee in syndicate and senate of Madurai Kamaraj University. He has authored three books and has over 190 research papers to his credit. In the year 2016, he was awarded UGC Emeritus Professorship in chemistry and given the status of CSIR Emeritus Scientist in chemistry.

The healthy way to beat exam stress 

Serena Josephine M. 
 
CHENNAI, February 15, 2019 00:00 IST


Eating right and finding ways to unwind will stand students in good stead, say experts

It is that time of the year when food, sleep and recreation tend to take a back seat, and stress and fear become more pronounced for students. The board examinations are here, but a healthy diet, adequate sleep and ways to de-stress could help make this period less stressful, say doctors and nutritionists. Adequate nutrition, mild exercise and a good night’s sleep play a major role during examinations, they add.

“Eating a balanced meal is crucial during exams. With exams around, food or diet is low on one’s list. But remember, exam time is a roller coaster ride. The right choice of food can make you more alert, attentive, clear in thoughts and build up your immunity. Wrong food can make you sluggish, irritable and unwell with poor concentration,” said Meenakshi Bajaj, senior nutritionist, Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital.

Home-cooked food

Start with a healthy and simple homemade breakfast, preferring idli to pongal and vadai or a bowl of multi-grain porridge with fruits, nuts or banana milkshake, an egg scrambled and wrapped in a chapathi or a multi-grain sandwich, she added. It is important to stay away from uncooked food and non-vegetarian dishes cooked outside home as it could be contaminated leading to typhoid and jaundice. “It is better to have home-cooked meals. Avoid skipping meals or eating out. Sipping one or two cups of coffee could help in concentration but more than that, it will dehydrate, make one sluggish and reduce sleep hours,” she said.

S. Balasubramanian, medical director of Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, said adolescents needed eight to nine hours of sleep. “Students tend to study till 12 in the midnight. Good sleep, that is rapid eye movement sleep, will help in storing memory. The most important hour of sleep is around 2 a.m.”.

It was important to take breaks in between studies, he observed. “Exercise or play games. In fact, watching television for sometime is not a bad option. It is important to keep stress away by doing something other than academics,” he said.

Lakshmi Vijayakumar, psychiatrist and founder of SNEHA, said, excessive stress is not good. “A certain amount of stress is good. But excessive stress will diminish capacity, cognition, memory and performance. It will result in lack of sleep, leading to poor concentration and loss of ability to remember,” she said.

All reading should be completed 15 days or a month before the examination, she said.

Prior to examinations, callers to SNEHA’s helpline are mostly students who are good at academics but are worried about scoring good marks. The State Health Department’s helpline, 104, is gearing up with a team of psychologists to provide counselling, officials said.

If you talk of Constitutional rights, perform the duties: HC 

B. Tilak Chandar 
 
B. Tilak Chandar, February 15, 2019 00:00 IST

Speakers, while exercising their right to free speech and expression, must abide by Constitutional values, observed Madurai Bench of Madras High Court.G_Moorthy

Says it is everyone’s duty to uphold constitutionalism

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed government authorities granting permission for meetings or other functions to obtain a written undertaking from the organisers of a conference in Tiruchi on February 23 that they would ensure that the speakers, while exercising their right to free speech and expression, abided by Constitutional values.

Allowing a petition that sought permission to conduct the conference, Justice N. Seshasayee observed that the Constitutional rights found their pair in Constitutional duties or responsibilities. “He who is conscious of his Constitutionally guaranteed rights and demands them, shall also be prepared to submit to performing the Constitutional duties,” the court said. “If constitutionalism has to survive in this country, then it is not just the responsibility of the State but that of everyone of its constituent citizens to carry its spirit in their hearts and souls. For a citizen to exercise his rights under the Constitution responsibly, he need not look to the State, for he owes his existence not to the mercy of the State, but to the might of the Constitution,” the court said.

The court, while allowing the conduct of the conference, ‘Repression is the democracy?’, with the slogan ‘Resist corporate saffron fascism’, ordered the authorities concerned to obtain an undertaking from the organisers that none of the speakers violated or infringed on constitutional values.

The organisers should also ensure that no pictures, cartoons, caricatures, posters and any form of visual depiction of any religious symbols or other images were used in order not to hurt the sentiments of other religious groups. They should not display anything banned under the law, the court said.

The court directed Tiruchi police to look into the representation expeditiously and asked them to videograph the proceedings of the meeting. If there was any violation, the police could prosecute the violators, the court said.

Bill for establishment of a private university tabled in TN Assembly

The State government on Wednesday tabled a Bill for the establishment of a private unitary university in Tamil Nadu by trusts or societies or not-for-profit companies.

Published: 14th February 2019 03:37 AM
By Express News Service

CHENNAI/COIMBATORE: The State government on Wednesday tabled a Bill for the establishment of a private unitary university in Tamil Nadu by trusts or societies or not-for-profit companies. The proposed private university would be both a greenfield and multidisciplinary.

The private university may establish constituent colleges, regional centres, additional campuses and study centres in the State subject to the norms of UGC and other regulatory bodies. It will be of unitary type and not have the power to affiliate or recognize any college or institution, says the Bill tabled in the Assembly by Higher Education Minister K P Anbalagan.

The university should possess contiguous land of not less than 100 acres, construct buildings, establish infrastructure and install necessary equipment in offices and laboratories as per the standards laid down by regulatory bodies. The sponsoring body has to establish a permanent endowment fund of at least `50 crore, the Bill says. The DMK, opposed the Bill.

Any sponsoring body wanting to set up a private university should apply to the government, justifying the need to establish the varsity, explaining the details of the sponsoring body, courses of study, research and innovation proposed to be undertaken.


The government would constitute an expert committee to examine the application. The university would be a self-financing university and shall neither make a demand nor shall be entitled to any maintenance, grant-in-aid or any other financial assistance from the government. The Bill, once enacted, will be called Tamil Nadu Private Universities Act, 2019. It has a provision of 35 per cent reservation of seats in each course for the resident students of Tamil Nadu.

The chancellor shall be appointed by the management committee for three years while the V-C by the chancellor and pro V-C through an executive council, the minister said in the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill.

Enforcement Directorate Takes Over Investigation Of SRMCH Fraud

By Pragativadi  newsservice 

Last Updated Feb 12, 2019

Bhubaneswar: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today took over the investigation of financial irregularities at Sardar Rajas Medical College and Hospital (SRMCH) in Kalahandi district.

In July last year, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of state Crime Branch had arrested A Johnsel Raja, 54, managing trustee of Selvam Educational & Charitable Trust which was running the SRMCH.

The Selvam Educational & Charitable Trust had signed an MoU with Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) in 2004, to establish a medical college at Jaring in Kalahandi district.

As per the MoU, WODC had provided Rs 10 crores and 25 acre of government land to the Trust. Even after getting all the benefits from State government the trust failed to complete infrastructural development for the smooth running of the hospital and medical college.

A Johnsel Raja obtained permission from Medical Council of India (MCI) for admission in MBBS course for two academic years i.e. 2013-14 & 2014-15 by producing forged documents claiming to have all the facilities required by MCI for granting permission.

The aforementioned tactics adopted by the accused and other trustees were detected by MCI and further permission for admission in 3rd Academic year i.e 2015-16 was denied.

Even though the accused was aware that MCI would not permit the college for admissions in the academic year 2015-16, he still collected huge amount from a number of students as capitation fee in violation of terms and conditions of MCI.

In addition to that, he also collected a big amount from 124 students as caution money. In the mid-session, he closed the college and misappropriated the total money collected from the students.

The WODC had in 2015 lodged an FIR against A Johnsel Raja at Junagarh police station in Kalahandi district accusing the latter of violating the memorandum of understanding, fraudulent documentation and risking the future of hundreds of medical students.