4 Nirbhaya convicts may hang on Mar 20

Aamir.khan2@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:06.03.2020

A court on Thursday set March 20 as the date for executing the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case. The court noted that it has an obligation to set the date, and there was no legal bar.

The latest ruling follows three postponements of the hanging and adds a sense of finality in a sensational case in which the four had received the death sentence in 2013. “Death warrants issued by this court with respect to condemned convicts Mukesh, Pawan, Akshay and Vinay shall now be carried into effect by hanging the convicts by the neck until they are dead on March 20 at 5.30 am,” said additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana. Special prosecutor Irfan Ahmed, who had moved a plea seeking setting the date of hanging, told the court the convicts had exhausted all legal remedies.

Hearing on separate hanging on Mar 23

The SC on Thursday deferred to March 23 the hearing on the Centre’s plea to allow separate execution where there are more than one death row convicts. The apex court rejected the Nirbhaya convicts’ plea for a hearing before March 20.

‘No legal hurdle before judge Rana to set date of hanging’

Convict Pawan Gupta was the last convict in the case to exhaust the legal remedy of the President’s mercy. Rejection of his mercy plea brought an end to all judicial, Constitutional and administrative remedies to which a prisoner is entitled as a right before execution of death sentence.

Appearing for Pawan, Vinay and Akshay, advocate A P Singh said he would be meeting Pawan and then challenge the rejection of mercy plea. While he also wanted to meet Akshay to “discuss with him the future course of action”, he conceded that there was no legal obstacle before judge Rana to set the date of hanging. He also prayed that the jail authorities be directed to permit the convicts to meet their counsels.

When it was urged that Akshay be informed about the status of his second mercy petition, the court stated that the jail superintendent was duty-bound to do it. Judge Rana was of the view that the lawyers were at liberty to meet their clients as per the standard procedure of jail after complying with the formalities.

Zoho, Cognizant tell staff to work from home

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

06.03.2020

New Jersey-headquartered Cognizant on Thursday temporarily shut one of its Hyderabad offices and advised all employees there to work from home even as several other tech companies encouraged their staff across India to rely on remote working and telecommuting options wherever possible to maintain business continuity till the Covid-19 threat eases.

Hyderabad has already seen attendance in offices of multinational and Indian tech companies housed in Building 20 at Raheja Mindspace down 30% to 40%, sources said. Building 20 houses offices of companies like Facebook, Parexel and RealPage. Chennai-headquartered Zoho said it had adopted the work-from-home model as its “default” option for offices worldwide, though no member of its staff has tested positive for Covid-19 yet.

“Our employees are encouraged to come to the office only when absolutely essential. We will continue this policy until the virus threat passes,” Zoho’s founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu tweeted.

In Mumbai, Tata Communications issued a statement on how the company’s flexible working policies and a variety of unified collaboration technologies were helping employees stay safe in their homes.

Sikkim bars entry of foreigners

To insulate itself from Covid-19, Sikkhim has banned entry of foreigners, leading to concern among tour operators and hoteliers in Darjeeling that bookings would be cancelled. A ban has been issued for permits to visit Nathu La that borders China.

India-EU summit in Brussels deferred

India and the EU postponed a bilateral summit scheduled for March 13 in Brussels after health authorities advised against travelling, MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.PM Modi was scheduled to attend the summit. P12

27% of companies have no risk mitigation plan, says survey

VP (unified communications & collaboration product management) Peter Quinlan said, “While we have introduced certain travel restrictions in the current scenario, employees have taken this in their stride since collaboration with remote colleagues was already the norm, and our teams are quite comfortable leveraging chat, voice, video and collaboration tools to get their jobs done.”

On Wednesday, Paytm had advised its employees to work from home after an employee in Gurgaon tested positive for the virus.

Tech Mahindra, too, has asked employees to rely on technologies like tele-presence and videoconferencing to fulfil their responsibilities without putting health at risk.

Godrej group has suspended all business-related international travel, moved meetings that can’t be postponed to videoconferencing and created a taskforce comprising senior employees to closely monitor the situation. A survey by HR consulting firm Mercer has revealed that around 27% of companies do not have a business continuity plan in place for risk mitigation during global emergencies. Nearly 24% are currently in the midst of drafting one.

Sikkim bars entry of foreigners over virus fear

Darjeeling/Kolkata: Sikkim has decided to ban entry of foreigners to insulate itself from the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), leading to widespread fears among tour operators and hoteliers in Darjeeling that bookings would be cancelled. A blanket ban has been issued for permits to visit Nathu La that borders China.

“Darjeeling and Sikkim are inter-linked tourist destinations. Overseas tourists usually spend four-and-a-half days in Sikkim and two-and-a-half days in Darjeeling. Now that they will not be able to travel to Sikkim, they are likely to cancel the Darjeeling leg of their trips and go elsewhere for week-long holidays,” said Amit Periwal, proprietor of Clubside Tours & Travel, who spent most of Thursday, informing his clients in the US and Europe about the development. TNN

30 corona cases confirmed, 23 more positive in first test

Gzb Man Who Visited Iran Infected

DurgeshNandan.Jha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:06.03.2020

A 57-year-old man from Ghaziabad with a recent travel history to Iran has become the 30th person to be confirmed positive for Covid-19 in India.

The number of cases is likely to rise sharply as health authorities await the results of re-confirmation tests on 23 more people whose initial tests have shown the presence of the virus.

The Ghaziabad man has been quarantined at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital. His wife and son have been put in an isolation ward of MMG District Hospital in Ghaziabad. Besides, local authorities said, they have also advised three of his employees to remain in home isolation. Samples taken from the 23 individuals have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, for final confirmation. “Many of them are likely to test positive and may require isolation too,” said a source.

The health ministry said, in addition to Covid-19 cases related to travel, some cases of community transmission are beginning to be observed, indicating that the virus may be spreading undetected in local communities.

Therefore, the ministry said in a statement that states have been asked to form rapid response teams at the district, block and villages levels.

The novel coronavirus infection has so far killed more than 3,300 people globally and infected nearly 96,000.

Rapid response teams in Delhi and NCR, where a majority of Covid-19 patients are under quarantine at present, have been actively tracing everyone who may have come in contact with the infected individuals and are testing them for the virus.

Hosps under pressure as more people come in for Covid-19 tests

Across India, 3,452 samples have been sent for testing of which 29 (the Ghaziabad resident was declared as a positive case later) have been found to be positive for Covid-19 till now, the health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “Testing of 92 samples is in process and 23 samples are being reconfirmed,” it added.

In some relief for Telangana, blood samples of two persons from the state which were sent to the NIV have tested negative.

“All new Covid-91 patients are stable,” Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said. The 30 cases recorded so far include 16 Italian tourists from a single group.

The list also includes the first three cases in the country from Kerala last month. All three have been discharged following recovery.

On Thursday, around 150 persons turned up for Covid-19 test at RML hospital, the only centre equipped to take samples for the virus in Delhi-NCR. Most of them had come in contact with the infected persons. A 26-yearold Paytm employee, a resident of Janakpuri in west Delhi, was confirmed positive on Wednesday. His wife, who works in an American asset management company in CyberHub, Gurgaon, has been quarantined at her home. The Gurgaon district administration has screened 91 Paytm employees working on the same floor as the patient. Of these, 71 live in Gurgaon, 18 in Delhi, one each in Faridabad and Noida, sources said.

More than 405 persons who travelled to countries affected by Covid-19 recently are under watch in Noida. The authorities said they are being sent to RML for testing.

“We are under a lot of pressure because the number of persons coming for tests has increased manifold, with more confirmed cases being identified and an increased need to test anyone who has come in their contact,” said a doctor at the central government-run hospital.

Government sources said sample testing facility has been started at 31 new places across the country, in addition to the 51 existing facilities. With this, the pressure on hospitals such as Safdarjung is likely to ease soon.

Father’s Pensionary benefits not exempt from Attachment towards Payment of maintenance to children 

February 4, 2020   0  2149



The Kerala High Court has held that a father’s pensionary benefits are not immune from attachment towards payment of maintenance to children.

A Division Bench of Justice K.Harilal and Justice C.S. Dias was considering the question whether the father’s pensionary benefits are exempted from being disbursed towards arrears of maintenance payable to his children.

This was in an Original Petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, challenging the orders of an Execution Court which directed KSRTC – petitioner’s employer- to deposit the maintenance arrears in the Court, and permitted his children to withrdraw the same.

The petitioner raised the contention that pension is immune from seizure/attachment under Section 11 of Pensions Act and Section 60 (1) (g) of the Code of Civil Procedure.

The court said that since the petitioner is a retired employee of the KSRTC, it is KSR-Part III which is applicable for disbursement of pension and not Section 11 of the Pensions Act. As per Rule 124 of the KSR, pension is not liable to seizure/attachment at the instance of a creditor for any demands against the pensioner.

However, the Court said that the claim of wife and children for maintenance cannot be regarded as a debt and they cannot be treated as creditors.

This conclusion was arrived at on the basis of definitions of ‘creditor’ and ‘alimony’ given in Halsbury’s Laws of England, Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary, and several judicial precedents such as Chaturbhuj v. Sita Bai, Ramesh Chander Kaushal v. Veena Kaushal & Ors.

On this basis, the judgment authored by Justice C S Dias observed :

“In light of the definition of the word “creditor”, and that payment of alimony is not a debt or liability and that it is not one founded on a contract, express or implied, but is a legal means of enforcement of the obligation of the husband and father to maintain his wife and children, we hold that the respondents 2 and 3 cannot be branded or labeled as “creditors” of the petitioner. The liability of the petitioner to maintain his children is statutory and sacrosanct falling within the sweep of Art.15 (3) and Art.39 of the Constitution of India, as observed in Ramesh Chander Kaushal (supra)”.

“If wives and children are treated as creditors falling within the exemption to Rule 124 of the Rules, it will render laws relating to payment of maintenance redundant. Such a suppressive interpretation cannot be permitted”, the Court said.

In this regard, the judgment also noted that Section 39 of the Transfer of Property Act gives a person who has the right to receive maintenance a charge over the property belonging to the person bound to maintain such person.

The court also examined Section 60 (1) (g) of the CPC where the court observed that the legislature has knowingly included the words “family pension fund” under the said section.

“Therefore,it is held that wife and children do not fall within the fold of the exemption to Section 60 (1) of the Code, as family pension fund that is payable to the family/dependents of the pensioner is exempted from attachment only by a person falling outside the purview of family”, the Court observed on this aspect.

The Court also observed that the liability of the husband/father to maintain his wife/children is statutory as well as Constitutional, falling within the sweep of Art 15(3) and Art. 39 of the Constitution of India. While dismissing the petition the court said that the children have charge over the properties of the father and their right to be maintained by the father (petitioner) overrides all such exemptions in the law.

Medical college hospital at Omandurar estate becomes fully functional

After a long wait, the Government Medical College Hospital in Omandurar Government Estate has moved into the same campus from the temporary one in Triplicane.

Published: 05th March 2020 06:48 AM 

A ward at the new Government Medical College Hospital in Omandurar Government Estate | R Satish Babu

By Sinduja Jane

Express News Service

CHENNAI: After a long wait, the Government Medical College Hospital in Omandurar Government Estate has moved into the same campus from the temporary one in Triplicane. The facility was officially inaugurated by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in 2015, along with the Multi Super Speciality Hospital. The hospital had been functioning from Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children (KGH) campus in Triplicane due to the construction works at the estate. The medical college attached to hospital, is the first government medical college in Chennai district inaugurated after the British colonial era.

The officials started shifting the departments from KGH by the end of January. Some of the main departments in the hospital are medical, surgical, dermatology, ENT, dental, anaesthesia, emergency and casualty. “Obstetrics, gynaecology and paediatrics are the only departments still operating from KGH,” a senior doctor said. According to the officials, the hospital is receiving 1,200-1,400 out-patients on an average daily, and the in-patient strength ranges between 450-530.

“After being shifted to the Omandurar Estate campus, number of out-patients have increased. In the old campus we used to see around 80-90 patients in one department. Now, the count has increased to around 120. We are getting patients from both Multi Super Speciality Hospital and KGH,” a doctor in the hospital said. The hospital also has a separate building for Yoga and Naturopathy department and is providing out-patient service from 8-12 pm daily. The department is also providing services including mud therapy and hydrotherapy. Apart from these the diabetic patients are also given yoga training free of cost.

The new medical college hospital is functioning from ‘B’ Block. It has seven tower buildings. The hospital is functioning from tower first, second and third buildings. The medical college is functioning from fourth and fifth buildings. Sixth and seventh houses women’s and men’s hostel, along with faculty quarters.

Patient count

According to the officials, the hospital is receiving 1,200-1,400 out-patients on an average daily, and the in-patient strength ranges between 450-530.

Beware of COVID-19, say doctors

05/03/2020 , Staff Reporter, MADURAI 

With fresh cases of COVID-19 emerging in India and the total count of patients going up to 28 as on Wednesday, doctors advise people to be cautious.

COVID-19, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), is a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). It is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.

Symptoms

The WHO adds that common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

Meena Priyadarshini, ENT and Head and Neck Surgeon at Apollo Hospital, Madurai, says that COVID-19 spreads due to minute droplets when one sneezes or coughs.

“We must avoid unnecessarily touching articles and must definitely not keep touching different parts of face, particularly nose, mouth and eyes,” she says.

She adds that it is better to avoid being in contact with those who have fever or sneezing. Affected persons must wear masks to ensure they are not spreading the risk.

“If you are in doubt, visit a medical expert immediately. If they too think of the matter as a case of concern, they will refer you to the Government Hospital,” she says.

Dean, Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH), J. Sangumani, says that one should definitely avoid travelling to countries abroad where there are reported cases of outbreak.

Others must wash their hands frequently and avoid crowded places.

He adds that those with symptoms can voluntarily come to the GRH for quarantine at the eight-bedded facility available.

Dr. Meena Priyadarshini adds that hand sanitizers with over 60% alcohol content can also be used to keep self hygienic.

Foundation laid for Krishnagiri medical college and hospital 

750-bed facility will come up by beginning of next year

05/03/2020 , Special Correspondent, KRISHNAGIRI

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami laying the foundation for a medical college in Krishnagiri.

A 750-bed medical college-cum-hospital will come up in the district by the beginning of next year. The foundation stone for the medical college was laid in Bolupalli by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Wednesday. The medical college is one of 11 such colleges sanctioned for the State by the Centre.

Mr. Palaniswami said the number of medical seats had gone up during the combined two terms of the AIADMK government in the State.

The medical college in Bolupalli will be spread over 25 acres and will be open for admissions from the next academic year with 120 seats, Mr. Palaniswami said.

Touting the achievements of his government, Mr. Palaniswami said the government was proposing an extension of the Bengaluru metro service up to Hosur. As of now, the service extends till Bommasandra in Bengaluru.

The Chief Minister also announced a combined drinking water scheme involving Thenpennai river.