Sekar Reddy back in TTD Board

In 2016, the A.P. govt. sacked him citing seizure of cash from his house by the CBI

20/09/2019, S. VIJAY KUMAR,CHENNAI

Sekar Reddy

The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday nominated industrialist Sekar Reddy as a special invitee to the Board of Trustees, Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD). He was also made president of the Local Advisory Committee of TTD in Tamil Nadu.

In December 2016, the Andhra Pradesh government had sacked Mr. Reddy from the TTD Board stating that the CBI had seized over ₹100 crore cash and huge amount of gold from his house in Chennai. The order had, however, said, he was not involved in any irregularity concerning TTD matters.

Mr. Reddy recently wrote to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy contending that the contents of the Government Order (GO) removing him from the post of TTD Board were factually incorrect. He argued that the CBI had conducted a search on his premises more than a week after the GO was issued.

The search referred to in the order was actually conducted by the Income Tax Department and the seizure was only ₹12 lakh. Other seizures made in the case belonged to SRS Mining firm in which he was one of the partners. The cash seized on the company premises was accounted for and advance tax duly paid. “I have been unfairly treated in the hurried removal of my membership of the TTD Board without any verification or enquiry,” he said and sought re-inducting into the TTD Board.

Of the three FIRs registered against him by the CBI, two were quashed by the Madras High Court and the chargesheet was not filed in the third till date.

Others nominated as special invitees to the TTD Board and made Local Advisory Committee presidents were Bhumana Karunakara Reddy, MLA, Tirupati; Rakesh Sinha, Member of Parliament, Delhi; Kupendar Reddy, Bengaluru; Govinda Hari, Hyderabad; Dusmanth Kumar Das, Bhubaneswar; and Amol Kale, Mumbai.

All of them would hold office for a period coterminous with the tenure of the Board that was fully constituted with 28 members on Wednesday.

Second judge from State in Supreme Court

Justice V. Ramasubramanian gets picked on merit

20/09/2019, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

V. Ramasubramanian

Tamil Nadu is all set to get a second judge in the Supreme Court with President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday clearing the elevation of Justice V. Ramasubramanian from the date he assumes charge of his office and the Centre issuing a notification.

Pursuant to his elevation, Justice Ramasubramanian, now the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, will remain in office till June 2023 even as Justice R. Banumathi, only judge from Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court at present, retires from service on July 19, 2020.

The Supreme Court once had a complement of three judges from Tamil Nadu with successive elevation of Justices F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, C. Nagappan and R. Banumathi in April 2012, September 2013 and August 2014 respectively.

However, after the retirement of Justice Kalifulla in July 2016 and Justice Nagappan in October 2016, Justice Banumathi remained the sole representative of the State in the Supreme Court. Justice Ramasubramanian’s elevation comes after a gap of five years since a judge from Tamil Nadu was elevated to the apex court.

A well-known scholar in Tamil and a master of the art of writing judgments, he was born on June 30, 1958 and obtained his bachelor’s degree in science from Vivekananda College in Chennai before graduating in law from the Madras Law College and enrolling as a member of the Bar on February 16, 1983.

After 23 years of practice as a lawyer in the High Court and other judicial fora, he was elevated as an additional judge of the Madras High Court on July 31, 2006 and as a permanent judge on November 9, 2009.

He was sworn in as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court on June 22, 2019 and continues to hold the post till date. The decision taken by the Supreme Court collegium to elevate him to the Supreme Court bypassing the seniority had led to discontent among certain sections. Nevertheless, the collegium remained steadfast in its decision to consider merit too.

Landmark ruling

During his tenure in the Madras High Court, Justice Ramasubramanian had delivered several landmark verdicts. In one judgment on a trademark dispute raised by a web portal, he had delved deep into the Internet age ever since its beginning in 1969 with just four computers located at University of California.

In that judgment, he had said the Trademarks Act of 1999 speaks of honest practices in business at two places, but does not indicate anywhere as to what constitutes honest practice. “It may perhaps be due to the fact that persons who follow honest practices in everyday life do not need a definition from the statute book, while for others no amount of definition would be of any use,” he added.

He so went on to state: “Honesty is actually an animus of mind. It can never be discovered either by words spoken by a person or by acts of omission and commission committed by him. Therefore, one can only make inferences from the circumstances.”

Retired staff of STC get their dues
20/09/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday distributed cheques towards pending retirement benefits to retired employees of various State-run transport corporations.

Retirement benefits of ₹1,093 crore were to be distributed to the beneficiaries. The pending dues were to be paid to employees who retired between April 2018 and March 2019.

Mr. Palaniswami inaugurated 288 housing quarters for police personnel, built on Papanasam Sivan Salai in Mylapore.

Police team searches for medico
20/09/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

A special team of police personnel from Theni district visited the city residence of Udit Surya, a student of Theni Medical College accused of impersonation to secure a seat in the medical college. Following complaints of impersonation and fraud, he surrendered his seat.

Udit Surya was charged with having someone else write the NEET exam and attend the counselling on his behalf. This was revealed after a complaint was sent to the authorities of the college. The special team constituted by Theni district SP visited a house in Tondiarpet based on the address given by Udit Surya in his document. Police sources said, “We went to the place which was mentioned in the application to conduct an inquiry. But no one was available in the said address. We will conduct further inquiry.”

Wettest day of year, highest rain in Sept.

20/09/2019,CHENNAI

The city has recorded the highest rainfall for a single day in September in a decade. Nungambakkam recorded 10.4 cm for a 24-hour period, ending 8.30 a.m. Thursday.

Access to Internet is a basic right: Kerala HC

Upholds college student’s plea

20/09/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,KOCHI

The Kerala High Court on Thursday held that the right to have access to the Internet is part of the fundamental right to education as well as the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Justice P.V. Asha made the observation while ordering the principal of Sree Narayanaguru College, Kozhikode, to re-admit a student who had been expelled from the college hostel for using her mobile phone beyond the restricted hours.

The court observed, “When the Human Rights Council of the United Nations has found that the right of access to Internet is a fundamental freedom and a tool to ensure right to education, a rule or instruction which impairs the said right of the students cannot be permitted to stand in the eye of law.”

The verdict came on a petition filed by Faheema Shirin, a third-semester B.A. English student of the college at Chelanur, challenging her expulsion for not adhering to restrictions on the use of mobile phone. As per the rules of the girls’ hostel, inmates were restrained from using mobile phones from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. She, along with a few other inmates, had protested against the restriction, as it was hampering their learning process.

CBI books 2 agri dept officers over harvester machine supply

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.09.2019

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Chennai, has registered a case of cheating and forgery against two officials from the agriculture department in Salem and the administrative director of a firm supplying harvester machines based on a complaint by a farmer, who was allegedly cheated of ₹19.39 lakh while purchasing a machine.

The case was registered on Wednesday by the anticorruption branch of CBI based on the Madras high court’s direction. The complaint was earlier rejected by a judicial magistrate in Attur. The high court suspects that the officials may have colluded to swindle the public exchequer and ordered a CBI probe.

According to the complainant V Ramakrishnan, a resident of Attur taluk in Salem, the assistant executive engineer of the agricultural engineering department, assistant engineer and the administrative director of South East Farm equipments Pvt Ltd in Salem cheated him.

Ramakrishnan said that in 2010-11 he had submitted an application at the agriculture department office for purchasing a paddy harvester machine. The application was scrutinised by the assistant executive engineer and it was accepted as it fulfilled the criteria.

The office later issued a supply order with a conditional clause that the machine was to be supplied within 15 days. The cost of the machine was ₹19.39 lakh. Of this, ₹15.39 lakh was paid to the South East Farm Equipments Pvt Ltd and the balance amount of ₹4 lakh was to be paid as a subsidy by the agricultural engineering department to the company, Ramakrishnan said. However, the company did not supply the machine as on date, Ramakrishnan alleged.

The trio have been accused of preparing a fake invoice by using a machine and chassis number which was purchased by Ramakrishnan earlier and swindling ₹4 lakh. He also stated that ₹15.39 lakh was not repaid to him and he did not get the paddy harvester machine as well.

The case was booked on Wednesday by the anti-corruption branch of CBI, Chennai, based on the Madras high court’s direction