Medical college hospital to cost nearly ₹ 337 cr.

03/03/2020, STAFF REPORTER,TIRUPPUR

Tiruppur Medical College Hospital will be constructed at ₹ 336.96 crore, said Minister for Animal Husbandry Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan here on Monday.

He was inspecting the construction works on the Tiruppur Government Hospital premises ahead of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s visit to lay the foundation stone on March 14. The 32,066-sq.ft. new hospital building will be constructed at nearly ₹ 126 crore, the 32055.39-sq.ft. medical college building at nearly ₹ 107 crore and the residential quarters to cost nearly ₹ 104 crore, a release said. Other facilities to be made available include gymnasium, auditorium, waste water treatment plant and elevators.

District Collector K. Vijayakarthikeyan, Tiruppur GH Dean Valli Sathyamoorthy, Deputy Commissioner of Police V. Badri Narayanan, MLAs and other officials were present.

Don’t spread fake news, police warn social media users

03/03/2020, STAFF REPORTER,COIMBATORE

The Coimbatore City Police on Monday warned social media users not to spread a fake news which said that a restaurant in Coimbatore was serving two types of biriyani, a genuine one for believers of a particular faith and other one laced with tablets affecting potency for believers of another faith.

After the tweet from the handle @RD_BANA was widely circulated, the police from its official Twitter handle tweeted that the message was fake and social media users should not spread it. “Don't spread fake news. Be responsible user of social media. No one should believe this tweet handle as it is spreading fake news. CCP is working to trace this handle,” said the tweet from the official handle of the police.

Following the reply from the police, the person who tweeted the content removed it. The swift reply from the police was widely appreciated and retweeted by many users.

A similar post was also circulated in Facebook in which the name of the owner of the restaurant was different from that of the name of the owner given in the tweet. The Facebook post said that the stall was selling two types of biriyani, one for people of a particular faith and the other mixed with drugs affecting potency for people of two other faiths.

Nod for Wi-Fi on planes with pilot’s permission

On board devices can access Internet

03/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

Getty Imagesyoh4nn

Passengers travelling in domestic flights will now be able to use Wi-Fi following permission from the pilot-in-command, according to a government notification.

“The pilot-in-command may permit the access of Internet services by passengers on board an aircraft in flight, through Wi-Fi on board, when laptop, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, e-reader or a point of sale device is used in flight mode or airplane mode, provided that the Director-General shall certify the aircraft for usage of Internet service in flight through Wi-Fi on board, subject to the procedures as specified in this behalf,” the notification stated.

It added that for the purposes of this rule, an aircraft will be deemed to be in flight when all its external doors are closed following embarkation until the moment when any such door is opened for disembarkation.

Vistara was one of the first players to secure the necessary approvals from the Department of Telecom near the end of last year.

HC takes a different view of maternity leave for govt. servants

‘Women having more than one kid from first delivery not entitled’

03/03/2020, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

Taking a view contrary to the one taken consistently by many single judges of the Madras High Court since 2010, the first Division Bench of the court, led by its Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, has now held that women government employees are not entitled to 180 days of paid maternity leave for their second delivery if they had given birth to more than one baby during their first delivery and if all those children were surviving.

Laying stress on the words “with less than two surviving children” found in the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules of 1972, the Bench, also comprising Justice Subramonium Prasad, said those who had begotten twins, triplets or quadruplets in the first delivery would not be entitled to full paid maternity leave benefits for their next delivery since the intention of the rule makers was to restrict the pecuniary benefits depending upon the number of children and not number of deliveries.

Even otherwise, it is a debatable subject as to whether a delivery in which a woman gives birth to twins or more babies could be technically termed as a single delivery, the Bench said.

“When twins are born, they are delivered one after another. Their age and inter-se elderly status are also determined by virtue of the gap of time between their arrivals which amounts to two deliveries and not one simultaneous act,” the judges said and expressed their disinclination to elaborate any further.

Ruling set aside

The judgment was passed while setting aside an order passed by a single judge on June 18, 2019 for grant of paid maternity leave of 180 days to M. Asiya Begum, a Sub Inspector in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), for her second delivery in 2017 though she had given birth to twins during her first delivery in 2015. “Without taking note of the rules and the aforesaid facts, the learned single judge appears to have extended the benefit erroneously,” the Bench concluded.

Senior Central Government Standing Counsel K. Srinivasa Murthy pointed out that the single judge had simply followed a series of decisions rendered by three other single judges of the High Court in cases related to State government service rules, which had also restricted the 180 days of paid maternity leave benefit only to women government servants with less than two surviving children. The single judges had interpreted the service rule to mean that women should be accorded the benefit of paid maternity leave for at least two deliveries irrespective of the number of babies delivered.

Otherwise, “it may produce ridiculous results. To cite an example, if during the first delivery, a woman government servant delivers a single child and by the second delivery if she delivers twins or triplets, then should she be disqualified,” one of the judges had asked.

Don’t challenge court order cancelling doctors’ transfers, PMK tells government

Appealing against it will further complicate rather than resolve the issue: Ramadoss

03/03/2020, STAFF REPORTER,CHENNAI

S. Ramadoss

PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Monday urged the State government not to appeal against a Madras High Court order cancelling the transfer orders issued to 135 government doctors who went on strike last October over a range of demands, including a pay raise.

In a statement, Dr. Ramadoss noted that the Madras High Court had cancelled the transfer orders only after making it clear that the doctors in question, who had been seeking the reinstatement of 50% reservation in postgraduate courses for government doctors in Tamil Nadu and higher wages, among other demands, had no right to protest whatsoever.

“The 135 protesting doctors were transferred to far-away places and were given 17B notifications. The doctors approached the Madras High Court, which made a ruling cancelling the transfer orders, observed that the Tamil Nadu government did not handle the issue properly and found merit in the demands raised by the doctors,” Dr. Ramadoss said.

Referring to reports that the State government was planning to appeal against the ruling, he said such a move will further complicate the issue rather than resolve it.

“A government that cares about the welfare of the people should not think of winning in a situation but should focus on ensuring that such a situation doesn’t arise in the future. The court has cancelled the transfer orders after stating that the government doctors don’t have the right to protest. By accepting the Madras High Court’s order, the government can ensure that government doctors don’t resort to protests in future. This will benefit all,” he said.

Perambalur girl to fly to NASA

03/03/2020, KATHELENE ANTONY,PERAMBALUR

B. Soundarya, a B.Sc. Mathematics student at Srinivasan College of Arts and Science, Perambalur district, will soon fly to NASA to take part in an international space science competition after qualifying at the national-level.

Ms. Soundarya bagged a place among thousands of students who wrote the online test.

Ms. Soundarya will be among students who would attend a week-long event at NASA which also includes a tour to the Kennedy Space Centre and a meeting with astronauts.

Delay in hanging shows failure of system: Nirbhaya’s mother

‘I lose hope every day but I stand tall every day’

03/03/2020, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA ,NEW DELHI

Resolute face: Nirbhaya's mother speaking to the media in Delhi on Monday. Sushil Kumar Verma

Delhi gangrape victim Nirbhaya’s mother on Monday said no matter what the convicts did, they would be hanged for their crime, after a Delhi court deferred the execution of the death penalty in the case till further orders.

“This shows the failure of our system. The whole world is watching how justice is being delayed in India,” she told reporters.

It is the third time that the hanging of the four convicts has been deferred.

Nirbhaya’s mother said she “loses hope every day” but the convicts will be hanged no matter what they do.

“I lose hope every day but I stand tall every day. They would have to be hanged. There could not have been a worse case than Nirbhaya but still I am struggling to get justice. The courts are sitting and watching the drama,” she added.

Prision preparation

Delhi’s Tihar Jail authorities had made all necessary preparations for the hanging of the four convicts, officials said on Monday.

“We had made all the necessary arrangements for the execution of the four convicts which was scheduled for Tuesday at 6 a.m. Now, the execution has been postponed and we are waiting for the further order by the court,” a senior jail official said.

“We had checked the ropes. The hangman was called and dummy executions were carried out,” another senior jail official said.

Barring Pawan Gupta, the other three — Mukesh Kumar Singh, 32, Vinay Kumar Sharma, 26, Akshay Kumar Singh, 31, had in the previous weeks moved curative petitions and mercy pleas, all of which were dismissed.

The first date of execution — January 22 — fixed on January 7, was postponed by the court to February 1. But on January 31, the court indefinitely postponed the hanging. On February 17, the court again issued a fresh date for execution of death warrants for March 3.

However, the Delhi government on Monday recommended rejecting mercy petition of Pawan Gupta.

Sources said that the Delhi government made the recommendation just a few minutes after it received the mercy petition from the Union Home Ministry. “The Delhi government has recommended rejecting mercy petition of Pawan Gupta. The file has now been sent to Lt Governor Anil Baijal for his recommendation,” a source said.