HC: Issue separate certificate on cause of death in Covid-19 cases

HC: Issue separate certificate on cause of death in Covid-19 cases

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 09.07.2021

The Madras high court on Thursday directed the state government to take immediate steps to issue a separate certificate to the families of all eligible Covid-19 victims mentioning the cause of death to help them claim relief, if any, provided by the government.

This shall be in addition to the death certificate issued by the authorities now, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said.

Presently, death certificates issued by civic bodies do not mention the cause of death.

The court issued the direction on a public interest writ petition that sought a direction to the government to frame and implement an effective policy to ensure that the cause of death is properly and correctly mentioned in the relevant certificate/official document for all cases of Covid-related deaths in accordance with law.

HC: Records would help future studies

On June 11, the court emphasised the need for accurate reporting of Covid-19 deaths in Tamil Nadu, and observed that due to the current policy followed in declaring a Covid-19 death, in some cases, families of the deceased are denied state compensation.

“It is necessary that an appropriate study be conducted by a specialised team, if necessary. It would also be fit and proper to require death certificates already issued to be revised, if necessary; if only not to deny the relief due to the family of the deceased in terms of the several schemes announced by the central and the state governments,” the court had said.

Accurate reporting or recording of deaths would help in studies being undertaken to deal with a pandemic of this nature in future, the court added.

NEET panel affront to SC, beyond state’s legal powers, Centre tells HC

NEET panel affront to SC, beyond state’s legal powers, Centre tells HC

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:09.07.2021

The Justice A K Rajan committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu government to study the impact of NEET on state students is an affront to the Supreme Court and an exercise in futility which is neither required nor valid, the Union government has told the Madras high court.

In its affidavit, filed in response to a writ petition filed by state BJP functionary K Nagarajan, the Centre said the executive power of the state, including the power to constitute a commission, is restricted to subjects within its legislative competence. “The field ‘medical education’ is regulated under the central legislation — the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. Nothing inconsistent or contrary thereto can stand legally. Therefore, the state cannot constitute a panel to study the impact of NEET on medical admissions,” the health ministry said.

Petitioner wants TN govt’s June order on NEET panel quashed

Countering the Tamil Nadu government’s contention that constituting such committee is a sovereign power of the state, the counter said, “as per the Commissions of Inquiry Act the state is the appropriate government only in respect of a commission appointed by it to make an inquiry into any matter relatable to any of the entries enumerated in the state list of the Constitution.”

This apart, the committee constituted is in contravention of various judgment of the Supreme Court approving NEET examination along with its various facets, it added.

“The reference made to the committee is not only a slight against the status and privilege of the Supreme Court but is also an exercise in futility as the law declared by the Supreme Court is binding on all functionaries,” the Centre has said.

Nagarajan has sought to quash an order issued by the Tamil Nadu government on June 10, constituting a committee headed by Justice A K Rajan to study the impact of the NEET.

Top political parties, including DMK, besides Dravidar Kazhagam, have filed separate petitions to implead themselves as parties to the proceedings. The first bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee is scheduled to hear the PIL on July 13.

Top political parties, including DMK, have filed separate petitions to implead themselves as parties to the proceedings

UGC, TN govt ordered to respond to pleas seeking vaccine for college students

UGC, TN govt ordered to respond to pleas seeking vaccine for college students

It also asked them to explain the shortcomings in online education provided to higher-education students.

Published: 07th July 2021 05:19 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered the State and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to respond to a plea seeking for all college students in the State to be vaccinated on a priority basis. It also asked them to explain the shortcomings in online education provided to higher-education students.

Petitioner Nervazhi Iyakkam Trust, represented by its managing trustee T Ganesh Kumar, of Guduvachenrry, sought for the court to direct the authorities to vaccinate students, especially those in college, and teachers, on a priority basis.

The petitioner also said the UGC should address the shortcomings in online education, such as challenges in providing internet access to the underprivileged, and the physical and mental impacts of prolonged online classes in violation of the UGC guidelines.

Courses that require a hands-on practical approach are being taken online, and this is intentionally being left out from the regulations, said the petitioner’s counsel M Sricharan Rangarajan. “Conducting online classes for such courses would severely handicap students, and they could come up short in their understanding as well as application of the subject,” he added.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy admitted the plea and issued notices to the State and UGC to file a detailed report within four weeks.

‘Intentionally left out’

Courses that require a hands-on practical approach are being taken online, and this is intentionally being left out from the regulations, said the petitioner’s counsel

Stalin opens obstetrics block at Tiruvarur GH

Stalin opens obstetrics block at Tiruvarur GH

On his way to the hospital, he stopped at Odampokki river bridge and inquired about the desilting works being carried out.

Published: 08th July 2021 05:05 AM 

Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurates the Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care services block at Tiruvarur GMCH

By Express News Service

TIRUVARUR: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday inaugurated Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care services block at Tiruvarur Government Medical College Hospital, built at the cost Rs 10.5 crore.

He inspected equipment bought at the cost of Rs 1.5 crore, emergency wards, blood bank and other facilities at the hospital. Earlier in the day, he received petitions from the pubic on South Main Street.

On his way to the hospital, he stopped at Odampokki river bridge and inquired about the desilting works being carried out. Ministers Ma Subramanian, K N Nehru, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and Siva V Meyyanathan, were present along with him. On Tuesday night, Stalin along with his family members visited the memorial of his paternal grandmother Anjugathammal located at Kattur village near Tiruvarur.

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