Now, Chennai-Jaffna flights for less than Rs 4,000 from Nov 11

The Alliance Air will now be flying to Jaffna and back, from November 11, with fares less than Rs 4,000.

Published: 08th November 2019 05:49 AM |

The inaugural Alliance Air flight from Chennai was the first to land at the new international airport in Jaffna. (Photo | Twitter)
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Alliance Air will now be flying to Jaffna and back, from November 11, with fares less than Rs 4,000. The Chennai to Jaffna fare will cost Rs 3,990 plus applicable government taxes and levies. Similarly, the return fare is priced at Rs 3,190 plus applicable government taxes and levies.

This flight is special in many ways. Apart from being Alliance Air’s maiden international foray, it connects Chennai to Jaffna after a gap of 41 years. Flyers coming into Chennai from Delhi, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Dubai, Trivandrum and Muscat, now have the option of connecting onwards to Jaffna over Chennai, making air travel more convenient.

There will be direct flight operations connecting the two destinations on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Flight 9I 101 will depart from Chennai at 1035am and arrive in Jaffna at 1200pm.  Flight 9I102 will depart from Jaffna at 1245pm and arrive in Chennai at 14:10 pm.

Panel to go into complaint against MKU professor

08/11/2019

A four-member committee, led by R. Lakshmipathy, Syndicate member, was formed on Thursday to look into the complaint of Registrar in-charge of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) R. Sudha against a professor, V. Kalaiselvan, for allegedly using unparliamentary language and verbally abusing her.

The panel was constituted at a meeting of the Syndicate held here. It was asked to submit its report in 15 days.

On Wednesday, Ms. Sudha lodged an official complaint with Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan regarding Mr. Kalaiselvan's behaviour which was a result of an internal tussle for space at the School of English and Foreign Languages.

According to university sources, the Syndicate meeting also finalised the names of seven members for the panel to interview applicants shortlisted for the post of Registrar.

The meeting also asked the Vice-Chancellor to remove unqualified candidates from their teaching posts, as per norms of the University Grants Commission.

A member of the Madurai Kamaraj University administration said that such candidates had already been relieved of their posts.

Advocate S. Vanchinathan who met the press on Thursday said that ‘provisional selection’ of two candidates for interview to the post of Registrar was not in accordance with rules.

Bar Council lodges complaint against law graduate, lawyer

08/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (BCTNP) has lodged a police complaint against a law graduate, an advocate and another individual for attempting to influence its members and having collected bribe money by misusing their names to get the graduate enrolled as an advocate in the council.

According to the complaint initiated at the instance of K. Balu, chairman of the Enrolment Committee of BCTNP, the application of one B. Vipin, 59, of Villivakkam in Chennai was rejected by the council since he had undergone law degree between 2015-18 while serving in the Southern Railways.

The applicant did not relent and instead appeared to have paid bribe money of ₹25,000 to a lawyer and his accomplice who had promised to get him enrolled by exercising their influence with the Bar Council members.

After making such payment, the applicant continued to pressurise the members to enrol his name.

Irked over his attitude, BCTNP chairman P.S. Amalraj asked the council’s secretary C. Raja Kumar to lodge a police complaint against all the three individuals.

Accordingly, a First Information Report was registered against the trio in the High Court police station and the prime accused was picked up for the investigation.

Don’t transfer doctors in mid-academic year: Judge
‘It may affect their performance’

08/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Justice N. Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court on Thursday disapproved of the State government’s move of transferring government doctors, including those heading various crucial departments in government hospitals, from one district to another in the middle of an academic year.

While hearing a case related to medical admissions along with Justice P. Velmurugan, the judge said, the government doctors may not work properly if they get transferred in the middle of the academic year. He batted in favour of providing better wages to doctors as well as policemen.

The senior judge clarified that during the last hearing of the case, he had compared the salary paid to the doctors with that of college faculty and not schoolteachers.

Unacceptable pay

He said, it was unacceptable to pay ₹57,000 a month to a newly appointed government doctor when such amount was received even by college faculty.

Also stating that he had respect for all professions, the judge said, that some professionals such as doctors as well as policemen required to be paid better given the nature of work performed by them and the number of hours that they had to work every day.

NEET impersonation: more cases likely

One complaint received from Kochi; several students yet to submit fingerprints

08/11/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

An exercise undertaken by the Madras High Court to dig deep into the issue of impersonation in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) might lead to many skeletons tumbling out of the closet as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) disclosed that it had received one complaint from Kochi in Kerala, apart from Chennai.

Justices N. Kirubakaran and P. Velmurugan were also informed that though they had ordered cross-checking of fingerprints of all students who had got admitted in MBBS course this year, about 16 of them were yet to give their fingerprints, citing reasons of ill health and one of them rushed to court seeking anticipatory bail.

The counsel for Sree Balaji Medical College in Chennai stated that two of its students were yet to give fingerprints since they were not in station. The Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute said two of its students were bedridden due to viral fever and hence they were unable to give their fingerprints to the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department.

SRM Medical College said that one of its students was yet to give his fingerprint. Though all the private institutions assured that their students would give their fingerprints at the earliest, Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute said one of its students failed to give his fingerprint and he had instead filed an anticipatory bail petition.

Counsel for Meenakshi Medical College stated that three of its students were yet to give their fingerprints and that they shall give it at the earliest.

After recording their submissions, Justice Kirubakaran suggested that the Selection Committee of Directorate of Medical Education itself could obtain fingerprints at the time of admissions from next year.

They also recorded the submission of K. Srinivasan, special public prosecutor for CBI cases, that the two complaints received by it from Chennai were forwarded to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well the Medical Council of India (MCI) whereas the complaint from Kochi was still under its consideration.

The judges directed Assistant Solicitor General G. Karthikeyan to find out from the Ministry by November 21 as to whether the complaints of impersonation in NEET were received from other States. The directions were issued during the course of hearing of a writ appeal related to alleged misuse of NRI quota seats in medical admission.

Appellant’s counsel M. Velmurugan said his client could not secure a medical seat despite scoring 303 marks in NEET, while nearly 200 students who had scored less than him got admission in private medical colleges under the lapsed NRI quota seats that were sent back by the Selection Committee to the respective colleges. Finding that Dr. MGR Medical University was a necessary party to the litigation, the judges suo motu included it as one of the respondents and adjourned the case to November 21 for submission of report by CB-CID.

Andhra CM under fire for sanctioning ₹73L for house
Amaravati:08.11.2019

The Andhra Pradesh government’s order sanctioning ₹73 lakh for doors and windows of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s residence here has come under flak from the opposition.

Leading the attack is N Chandrababu Naidu, who himself was target of the ruling YSR Congress Party over living in an alleged illegal house.

“YSR Jagan’s government has allotted a whopping ₹73 lakhs to fix windows for his house! Now that’s one super expensive view at the expense of state exchequer! This comes at a time when AP is grappling with fiscal mess caused by mismanagement in the last 5 months. Truly cringe-worthy!” tweeted Naidu.

Naidu’s son and TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh accused Jagan of hypocrisy for sanctioning such a large amount while claiming that “he takes home ₹1 as salary”.

The order, issued by Roads and Buildings Department on October 15, accorded administrative sanction for ₹73 lakh afor supply and installation of aluminium windows/doors and miscellaneous works in camp residence and office block of the chief minister. IANS

Now, T’gana revenue officials get threat calls

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:08.11.2019

Days after a tehsildar was burnt alive inside her office, several revenue officials in Telangana are claiming to have been receiving threats from unidentified persons. While a worried tahsildar has gone on leave, a revenue divisional officer (RDO) filed a complaint with police after a cop threatened him that he would meet the same fate Vijaya Reddy faced on November 4 in her office.

K Rajendra Kumar, RDO of Kamareddy district, approached police on the very same day on which Vijaya was set on fire, after receiving a call from an unknown person who threatened him that he too would be burned alive if he did not resolve his land dispute.

SP K Swetha Reddy told TOI on Thursday that after a preliminary enquiry, they have identified the person who made the call as armed reserve (AR) constable Srinivas Reddy. “We have taken the complaint and put up the matter before the court,” she said. The SP said an FIR would be filed under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

Meanwhile, revenue employees at Maripeda tehsildar office in Mahabubabad district were allegedly threatened by a farmer who came to the office with petrol in a bottle. He kept it on the table and shouted at them. He apparently wants them to solve his land issue.