Tamil Nadu government told to dispose of staff’s appeals related to service, retirement matters
Before parting with the case, the judge pointed out that the filing of the appeal itself is an early remedy available for the litigants.

Published: 16th March 2019 07:12 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the State government to issue circulars to the appellate authorities to dispose of the appeals relating to service and retirement matters from the affected government employees expeditiously within a time-frame. Justice R Mahadevan gave the directive while passing orders on a batch of writ petitions from the affected persons, on Friday.

In one case, C Alim Amber, working as a clerk in Alanganoor Primary Agriculture Co-operative Loan Society, Ramanathapuram district, was suspended from service one day prior to his retirement on July 30, 2014. Challenging this, he preferred an appeal on August 20, 2015 and the same was pending before the appellate authority for years even till now. Hence, the present petition. The judge directed the appellate authorities concerned to expedite the hearing on the appeal and complete it expeditiously.

Before parting with the case, the judge pointed out that the filing of the appeal itself is an early remedy available for the litigants. The appellate authorities, specifically created under the relevant statute, must consider them quickly. Any prolonged pendency of the appeal will naturally cause damage to the legal claim of the litigants.

“In such matters, the appellate authorities, while entertaining appeals from the date of filing, should collect the documents that are sought to be required for early disposal and complete the proceedings, within three months and after providing sufficient opportunity of hearing to both parties, dispose of the same, within six months thereafter,” the judge said.


The judge made it clear that while disposing of the appeals, the appellate authorities shall take into account the fact that because of the long pendency of appeals, if the litigant won the case after a long time, he would certainly be entitled to the consequential monetary benefits, which would cause heavy revenue loss to the government and which can be avoided if the appeals are disposed of early.

Hence, while hearing the appeals, the authorities shall not entertain unnecessary adjournments. The government should take steps for getting the appeals disposed of at the earliest and in this regard, a circular should be issued to all appellate authorities irrespective of the departments, the judge said.

Chennai man sexually abuses puppies
The police are yet to file an FIR and have asked the activist to identify the person and inform them so that he could be arrested.

Published: 16th March 2019 03:19 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: In yet another case of alleged animal abuse, a man has been accused of sexually abusing four puppies in an empty ground at Mathur near Madhavaram on Thursday. This is not the first he was seen misbehaving with the puppies.

Twenty days ago, the man in his 20s was seen abusing the pups at the second cross street in MMDA Colony, Mathur, and when confronted by the locals, he fled.

“On Thursday, the man was seen again abusing the puppies and when the residents scolded him, he again fled. After they informed me, we retrieved the video and lodged a complaint with the police,” said Sai Vignesh, an animal activist from Chennai.

The complaint was lodged with the Madhavaram Milk Colony police. The police are yet to file an FIR and have asked the activist to identify the person and inform them so that he could be arrested.


When contacted, the station inspector said “The nature of crime is unclear even after seeing the video. We need to have a legal opinion and hence only after the man is arrested, we will be able to file an FIR.”

Philips India told to pay Chennai customer Rs 1.3 lakh

R Balaji, a resident of Villivakkam, purchased a TV from Santhosh & Co, a Philips dealer, at a cost of Rs 67,000.

Published: 16th March 2019 07:11 AM 

For representational purposes (File | Reuters)

CHENNAI: A city consumer forum told Philips India Ltd, its dealer and service centre to pay Rs 1,32,000 to a resident after the television set he purchased in 2015 had to be repaired soon after purchase.


R Balaji, a resident of Villivakkam, purchased a TV from Santhosh & Co, a Philips dealer, at a cost of Rs 67,000. Within a few months, the TV conked and he was charged for repair despite having warranty.

With the problem hardly solved, on September 16, 2017, the PCB Board was also replaced. The consumer forum observed that there was a deficiency of service on the part of the manufacturer, its dealer and the service centre.

‘Re-issue G.O. without revealing victim’s name’

B. Tilak Chandar

MADURAI, MARCH 16, 2019 00:00 IST

HC takes serious view of police lapse

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the State to withdraw the Government Order (G.O.) on transferring the Pollachi sexual assault case to the CBI and issue it afresh without revealing the identity of the complainant.

A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S. S. Sundar observed that the G.O issued revealed the name of the victim and her college, apart from her brother’s name.

Pulling up the authorities concerned responsible for revealing the girl’s identity, the court said they could be proceeded against.

The court held that it was appropriate for the State to take action against the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore, for his irresponsible conduct of revealing the name of the victim.

It is unfortunate that the Superintendent of Police has disclosed the number of videos received and the number of accused even in the preliminary stage of investigation. The purpose of non-disclosure has not been understood by the officials. The victim gave the complaint with a hope that her identity would be protected. The police have failed to protect the identity of the girl by disclosing the same to the media.

“The cries of the victim are still echoing in our ears. If the identity of the victim is revealed, how will any one come forward against such atrocities”, the court asked.

The court said the incident had sent shock waves across the country. “Let it be an eye-opener. Such incidents should not happen again,” the court said and directed the State to give psychological counselling to the victims, without the knowledge of the others preferably outside Pollachi, so that their identity is protected.

Recommending a compensation of Rs. 25 lakh to the victim, the court asked the Centre and the State to respond if a ‘One Stop Centre’ was set up to counsel such victims as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court.

HC summons officials over case of records manipulation

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, MARCH 16, 2019 00:00 IST

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has summoned the Chief Educational Officer and the District Educational Officer of Ramanathapuram district along with a Superintendent to the Block Educational Office after an alleged case of manipulation of certain records was brought to light.

Justice R. Mahadevan, taking into account the nature of allegations levelled in the case, observed that had false allegations been made, the guilty would be sent straight to jail from the court hall itself. The court sought CCTV footage to be produced in the case.

The court was hearing a petition filed by R. Shanmuganathan of Ramanathapuram, a Superintendent. who said he was transferred from the Block Educational Office, Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district, to the District Educational Office in 2018. Similarly one S. Ramachandran working in the District Educational Office was transferred to the Block Educational Office, Bogalur, Ramanathapuram district.

The petitioner claimed that Ramachandran and the District Educational Officer had colluded and had indulged in various irregularities. Now that he was transferred to that office, he was also asked to do the same, the petitioner alleged.

Besides, Ramachandran had illegally gained entry into the office and manipulated certain records. Subsequently, the petitioner said, he was issued a transfer order in early February in order to accommodate Ramachandran to achieve certain objectives. He sought a direction to quash the transfer order. The case was adjourned to March 19.

BU Syndicate compulsorily retires faculty

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

COIMBATORE, MARCH 16, 2019 00:00 IST

The Bharathiar University Syndicate, which met in Chennai on Friday, decided to compulsorily retire L. Ramesh, principal, Bharathiar University Arts and Science College, Valparai.

The University had included the agenda for the Syndicate meeting to decide on the quantum of punishment for Mr. Ramesh, who was found guilty for taking bribe.

The Syndicate also decided to waive off the Rs. 2 lakh that students of Government Arts College, Coimbatore, were supposed to pay as convocation fee and fine. This would enable students to receive their degree certificates. Sources in the Syndicate said that the decision-making body deferred taking a decision on opening learning support centres in colleges for distance education programmes.

Charitable trusts holding marathons to face GST
Sidhartha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:16.03.2019

In a setback to several charitable institutions, the Tamil Nadu Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) has held that conducting marathons by a charitable trust registered under the Income Tax Act does not exempt them from GST liability as only activities covered under definition of “charitable activities” under a 2017 notification are exempt.

In response to a reference by Dream Runners Foundation, the AAR found that the entity needed to be registered under the Central and state GST laws as it was making taxable supply of services such as organising marathon, while noting that its aggregate turnover in a financial year exceeded the prescribed Rs 20 lakh.

The authority said that the money collected from participants was a consideration towards the supply of service of organising and conducting the marathon and was liable to incur GST.

It noted the petitioner’s plea that net proceeds are donated to Freedom Trust, an NGO providing prosthetic limbs to less privileged people. It observed that the money collected from the participants could be donated or used for further charitable activities, but organising marathon was a separate supply of service for the participants.