Govt gets 2 months to clear Chitlapakkam lake squatters

POLL, LOCKDOWN CITED FOR DELAY

Govt gets 2 months to clear Chitlapakkam lake squatters

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:08.07.2021

Take steps to evict 403 parties encroaching the Chitlapakkam lake, the Madras high court has told the Tamil Nadu government.

“The state should take appropriate action in accordance with law under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tanks and Eviction of Encroachment Act, 2007, upon due notice to the perceived encroachers,” the first bench of chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said on Wednesday.

The issue pertains to a public interest writ petition filed by anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam to remove encroachments on the Chitlapakkam lake from the Tambaram and Pallavaram side, along with putting an end to discharge of sewage into the lake.

When the plea came up for hearing, government advocate P Muthukumar submitted that effective steps to remove the encroachers could not be taken due to the assembly election and the lockdown.

Recording the same, the bench said, “Now that the election is over and the restrictions imposed under the lockdown following the second wave have been eased, the state should take appropriate action.” The court then adjourned the hearing to September 8, for the state to file a compliance report.

On April 8, the state informed the court that the 403 encroachments were found on 83.89 acres of the water body classified as ‘Eri’ (tank). Of the 403, 374 are by way of house sites. It was further added that notices had been issued to the encroachers under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Tank and Eviction of Encroachments Rules, 2007.

According to the petitioner, it wanted to protect the Chitlapakkam lake spread over101.4 acres, by forming an earth bund around the lake along with a pathway by removing the encroachments. It had also sought to restrain the officials from converting the lake and its adjoining areas into a park, landfill or garbage dump and subsequently connect the lake with the lakes at Selaiyur and Sembakkam.

Out: Prasad, Javadekar, Vardhan and Pokhriyal

Out: Prasad, Javadekar, Vardhan and Pokhriyal

Akhilesh.Singh@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:08.07.2021

The exit of 12 ministers came as a surprise element as well-known faces like health minister Harsh Vardhan, information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad left the government on Wednesday.

The factors that led to their exit seem to range from slow pace of meeting targets to inadequate communication of policy and political goals in respective ministries. The articulation about the Covid-19 situation in the country was seen to be “bureaucratic” and seemed to lag in countering the opposition allegations during the second wave.

DOOR SHUT: The exit of 12 heavyweights has come as a surprise

Pokhriyal learnt to have quit largely over health issue

Edu minister Ramesh Pokhariyal is learnt to have quit largely on health grounds It was also felt that the Delhi leader (Harsh Vardhan) did not take on AAP on issues of oxygen shortages as was needed. Prasad, who was holding crucial departments, including law and IT, has been visible and vocal in the government’s showdown with social media giant Twitter. He has also been fielded often as spokesperson on policy and political issues. The persistent problems in the telecom sector and slow progress in the Bharatnet project are seen as problematic issues. As the party organisation may also be in for recast, the possibility of former ministers finding themselves in new roles cannot be ruled out.

Education minister Ramesh Pokhariyal is learnt to have had to quit largely on health grounds as he was struggling with post-Covid complications. The minister had to be hospitalised again after recovering from the infection. Though having helmed the new education policy, the leader may have been a little slow off the block in dealing with other issues relating to the ministry such as revision of school curriculum that is a major reform for the government.

Full report on www.toi.in

Judge recuses from poll case, slaps ₹5L fine on Mamata

Judge recuses from poll case, slaps ₹5L fine on Mamata

Kolkata:08.07.2021

Calcutta high court judge Justice Kausik Chanda on Wednesday recused himself from hearing Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s petition on BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s Nandigram poll victory but fined her ₹5 lakh to “firmly repulse” the “calculated psychological offensive and vilification adopted to seek recusal”, reports Subrata Chattoraj.

Banerjee had said in her petition that Justice Chanda’s long association with the BJP’s legal cell and taking up cases for the party posed an “apprehension of bias” and that “the court should be like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion”.

Justice Chanda said he had “no personal inclination to hear out the case” nor did he have any “hesitation in taking up the case”.

Won’t speak on this, lawyers will take decision: Didi

However, he still chose to recuse because “the two persons involved in this case belong to the highest echelons of state politics”. “Some opportunists have already emerged... in the name of saving the judiciary. These trouble-mongers will try to keep the controversy alive and create newer controversies. The trial of the case before this bench will be a tool to aggrandise themselves. It would be contrary to the interest of justice if such unwarranted squabble continues along with the trial,” the judge said. The fine of ₹5 lakh should be paid to the Bar Council of West Bengal to help families of advocates who lost their lives to Covid, he ordered.

Banerjee did not respond to media’s questions on the fine. “This is a sub-judice matter. I will not speak on this. The lawyers will take a decision,” she said.

But other Trinamool leaders as well as the BJP’s IT Cell chief took to Twitter after the order. Trinamool Rajya Sabha leader and spokesperson Derek O’Brien, without directly referring to the judgment, tweeted: “We live and learn. We live in a world where the cost of speaking the truth now comes with a staggering price tag: ₹5 lakh. We live in a world where propaganda and falsehood are also meted out. The price: FREE. Got the reference? Modi hai to mumkin Hai. Go figure.”

Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra, whose tweet listing the cases Justice Chanda had appeared for the BJP as a lawyer was mentioned in Justice Chanda’s order, tweeted: “Petulance at its best today. Realising no way out but to recuse himself he decides to slap ₹5lakh fine simply because he can. Kind of like teacher realises student is correct & breaks blackboard.”

BJP leader Amit Malviya, however, felt the fine was “a small sum”. “The fine on Banerjee for showing the judiciary in poor light is a small sum, given the potential of her actions and utterances to cause erosion of trust of the common man in our institutions. She had similarly maligned EC during elections,” he tweeted.

Justice Chanda said in his order that he did not agree with the CM’s petition that his “long, close, personal, professional, pecuniary and ideological relationship” with a political party posed a “conflict of interest”.

“It is almost impossible in this country to get a person who may not be said to have political views. Anyone interested in politics may be said to have an ‘interest’. Like any other citizen of the country, a judge too exercises voting rights in favour of a political party but lays aside individual predilections while deciding a case,” he said.

‘A SMALL SUM’: The fine on Banerjee for showing the judiciary in poor light is a small sum, given the potential of her actions, said BJP leader Amit Malviya

Dilip Kumar laid to rest with full state honours

Dilip Kumar laid to rest with full state honours

Bella.Jaisinghani@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:08.07.2021

Dilip Kumar, the Aakhri Mughal of Hindi cinema, was laid to rest at Santacruz Kabrastan Wednesday evening. Friend Faisal Farooqui, who runs the actor’s official Twitter handle, said, “Sahab’s lungs had become very weak and he suffered multiple age-related ailments. On Tuesday night, his blood pressure dropped and it then became difficult for doctors to remove the excess fluid from his lungs.”

Dilip Kumar was awarded a state funeral. Police draped his remains in the tricolour and the marching band performed at his Pali Hill residence in Bandra before the coffin was led to Santacruz. The bier was lifted by nephews Rehan, actor Ayub Khan, Imran and Saqib, and Farooqui. The last rites were completed at 5pm.

Santacruz Kabrastan is where the family graves are located. It is also the resting place for most of Hindi cinema’s yesteryear celebrities. Saira Banu’s mother, veteran actress Naseem Bano, her grandmother and other family elders are buried here along with Madhubala, Mohammed Rafi, Sahir Ludhianvi, Naushad, Ali Sardar Jafri, Talat Mahmood, K A Abbas, Parveen Babi and Tahir Hussain. In fact, Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu had requested the government to grant the trust a neighbouring plot to accommodate more graves.

On Wednesday a stream of dignitaries from Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya, film celebrities Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Ranbir Kapoor and Subhash Ghai went to offer condolence to the family at the bungalow. Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek visited the gravesite. A sea of blue ticks offered tribute on Twitter, from President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Narendra Modi to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and South superstars Mammooty and Chiranjeevi.

Pvt hosps can buy 3 times daily vax used

Pvt hosps can buy 3 times daily vax used

Mumbai:08.07.2021

The Centre has revised the formula for fixing the cap on vaccines allowed for private hospitals per month, reports Sumitra Debroy.

Under the new ‘maximum order quantity’ (MOQ) plan for each facility private players can now place orders based on triple the average daily consumption of one of their best performing weeks of the previous month.

Earlier, it was double the average daily consumption of the vaccine. The decision was communicated to private hospitals across the country through a series of online meetings on Wednesday. Central officials told the private centres that they could start placing orders through Co-Win from the next few days in four instalments or at one go. Private hospitals were supposed to place vaccine orders from July 1 through CoWin, but they haven’t been able to do so.

Chief ministership not post; it’s a responsibility: Stalin

Chief ministership not post; it’s a responsibility: Stalin

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Trichy:08.07.2021

Chief minister M K Stalin took a pledge on Wednesday that he will treat chief ministership as a responsibility to serve people and not as a post. He conveyed his resolve through jottings made in the visitors’ book at Muthuvelar Noolagam-Anjugam Padippagam, two libraries in Thirukkuvalai functioning as a memorial of the parents of M Karunanidhi.

Stalin was visiting his ancestral house in Nagapattinam district for the first time after taking charge as CM, on the second day of his visit to the delta districts. He wrote that he has become chief minister because of the efforts and hard work of Udanpirappugal (blood brothers in Tamil) as termed by his father. “Thalaivar Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi) will often say that post (chief minister) means responsibility. Should serve people with responsibility. Bearing that in mind, my journey will continue by treating chief ministership as a responsibility. This is the pledge I take at his (Karunanidhi) birthplace (house),” the CM wrote.

En route to Thirukkuvalai, the CM received petitions from locals. He stopped by at Pinnavasal village to congratulate a newly married couple who was waiting for the convoy outside a wedding hall.

Earlier in the day, he inaugurated the comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) building at Tiruvarur government medical college hospital. The facility has 200 beds for maternal care and 50 for intensive neonatal care. The CM then felicitated district collector P Gayathri Krishnan for vaccinating all 2,334 residents against Covid-19 in Kattur village near Koradacherry town in Tiruvarur district.

BACK TO THE ROOTS: CM M K Stalin with his family at their ancestral house in Thirukkuvalai village in Nagapattinam district

TN tells HC it’s examining Centre’s proposal on AIIMS

TN tells HC it’s examining Centre’s proposal on AIIMS

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:06.07.2021

The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday informed the Madras high court that the three suggestions given by the Centre on temporary arrangements to accommodate 150 MBBS students in AIIMS Madurai has to be examined by the institute’s body which is likely to meet on July 16.

In the counter, the health secretary stated that the state government would examine the proposals subject to feasibility, based on the outcome of the meeting. With regard to commencing outpatient department (OPD) services in a temporary campus, a detailed report would be finalised and the next level meeting would be held on July 16. It is anticipated that the matter would also be discussed in the meeting. He further stated that the state is proactive in providing land and other regulatory clearances as and when received. The state government would be pleased if the actual construction of AIIMS is expedited and necessary approval is obtained for providing services and also allowing admission in college.

A division bench of justice T S Sivagnanam and justice S Ananthi said in the light of the stand taken by the state, the court was deferring the hearing in the case till July 26 and directed the state to file a status report in this regard. During the previous hearing, the secretary of the Union ministry of health and family welfare in the counter affidavit had stated that they were keen on starting services of AIIMS Madurai subject to availability of alternate space for starting MBBS classes and OPD services.