Revised norms of state govt bus usage

Revised norms of state govt bus usage

hennai:11.07.2021 

Tamil Nadu transport department has revised the norms for condemnation of overaged government buses.

State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) buses will be condemned at the end of seven years or completion of 12 lakh km. Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) mofussil buses will be condemned at end of nine years or 12 lakh km.

The decision has been made based on recommendations made by a committee, constituted to study the issue. TNN

Govt exams & bus service to Pondy allowed from Monday

Govt exams & bus service to Pondy allowed from Monday

All Shops Can Now Work Till 9pm, TN Curbs Extended

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:10.07.2021 

Bus services to Puducherry from Tamil Nadu will resume and shops can remain open till 9pm across the state from Monday as chief minister M K Stalin on Saturday announced extension of the Covid-19 lockdown till 6am on July 19 with more relaxations. Competitive exams for state and Union government jobs will also be allowed, but agencies conducting the tests must inform district collectors in advance.

Interstate public and private transport and international air travel, except the ones permitted by the Union home ministry, however, will continue to remain prohibited. Curbs on cinema theatres, bars, swimming pools, social and political gatherings, entertainment, sports and cultural events, schools and colleges and zoological parks too will remain intact. A maximum of 50 people will be permitted to attend marriages, and 20 people for funerals and last rites.

“All permitted activities will be allowed to continue in the state, except in containment zones. Shops and other activities permitted till 8pm will be allowed till 9pm,” the CM said. Restaurants, tea shops, bakeries, eateries, sweet shops will be permitted with a 50% cap on customers at a time till 9pm. “Standard operating procedures should be followed strictly at all shops and public gatherings,” the CM said.

Doors, windows must be kept open in shops to ensure good ventilation

Even as the total positive rate is falling, the state government wants to remain cautious. “The state is still not in a comfort zone to open up fully,” said a senior official.

Hand sanitizers and dispensers should be compulsorily made available at the entry and customers screened using thermal screening. Management should ensure that staff and customers wear masks at all times. Doors and windows should be kept open in shops with air-conditioning facilities to ensure adequate ventilation. Entry should be restricted to maintain social distance, while marking should be drawn for the customers to maintain distance when they stand in queue near shops.

“The district collectors and local bodies will have to take up intensive preventive measures through micro-level containment of cases,” he said. No other activities other than medical emergency services and supply of essential commodities will be permitted in the containment zones. The administrative machinery should set up committees and take up aggressive door-to-door monitoring in these zones.

Stalin urged the public to avoid stepping out of houses and gather in public places to prevent the infectious disease. “Wearing masks, maintaining social distance and frequent hand washing should be strictly followed. Public should visit hospitals nearby for consultation or treatment as soon as they get to know of the symptoms,” Stalin said. Imposing fines on violations of Covid protocols will continue, he said.

SC judges get ₹208 per case, senior lawyers charge lakhs

SC judges get ₹208 per case, senior lawyers charge lakhs

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:10.07.2021

If we are looking for mockery of the principle of equal work for equal pay, we don’t have to go beyond the highest court of the land as the comparison of compensation paid to a Supreme Court judge for hearing and deciding a case and to a senior advocate for arguing it brings out the wide chasm.

An SC judge gets a salary of ₹2.5 lakh a month, which works out to approximately ₹8,333 per day, during which time he/she hears arguments from lawyers on an average of 40 cases. This translates to ₹208 per case, be it a simple appeal, a PIL on Covid issues, or one involving intricate questions of law. In contrast, a newly designated senior advocate commands a price of ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh for arguing a case. The services of a seasoned advocate like A M Singhvi, Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi or Harish Salve may find the litigant’s bank balance lighter by ₹10 lakh-₹20 lakh per hearing.

Each opinion of a retired CJI fetches her/him ₹10-₹20 lakh

So an SC judge, who hears and decides a case, gets ₹208 per day per case while seasoned senior advocates, who cannot guarantee a result in a case, are paid in lakhs of rupees per day per case.

Well, none of the senior advocates argue in 40 cases a day, for which an SC judge prepares every evening to be ready to listen to the legal arguments the next day.

This is the reason why many SC judges look forward to their retirement, which allows them to offer legal expertise as arbitrators, or, for that matter, provide valued opinion to corporations and multinationals on legal issues in their operations in India, or in disputes arising from contracts, agreements and MoUs.

A retired SC judge earns between ₹2 lakh and ₹5 lakh for a two-hour sitting as an arbitrator and there are some who do three sittings every day to match the earnings of a reasonably successful senior advocate. A retired Chief Justice of India commands a little more than a retired SC judge while performing the duty of an arbitrator.

In rendering an opinion, a retired SC judge gets between ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh while each opinion of a retired CJI fetches her/him ₹10-₹20 lakh. A retired CJI confided to TOI: “I do three to four opinions a month and earn between ₹30-50 lakh, unthinkable money for a sitting judge. I indulge in a lot of charity. And yet, I am left with an amount which is more than the provident fund money I got on retirement after rendering services for more than two decades as a judge of constitutional courts.”

Full report on www.toi.in

NEET-UG likely to be deferred to Sept, decision on CUCET soon

NEET-UG likely to be deferred to Sept, decision on CUCET soon

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:10.07.2021

The National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) for admission to medical courses is likely to be postponed to September while a call on rollout of Central University Common Entrance Test (CUCET) will be taken after education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s interaction with centrally funded institutions, sources said on Saturday.

The entrance test for MBBS/ BDS courses had been scheduled for August 1, but the registration process was deferred due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in April-May and subsequent lockdown.

The education ministry had on July 6 announced fresh dates for JEE (Main)’s April and May sessions. The April session will be conducted from July 20-25 and the May session (fourth and last) fourth from July 27-August 2.

Amid uncertainty over date of NEET-UG, social media has been abuzz with fake claims. A “notice” in circulation, which the National Testing Agency clarified later to be fake, claimed that NEET-UG would be held on September 5.

According to senior government official, the August 1 date for NEET is no longer feasible and it will be postponed. “The fresh schedule along with guidelines for the online registration process is to be announced next week. The new education minister who took charge on Friday would soon take a review meeting. Thereafter, the dates will be announced by NTA. Consultations are on and the exam is likely to be scheduled in the middle of September,” said the official.

There is also uncertainty among undergraduate aspirants and university administration over the status of CUCET.

Full report on www.toi.in

Reserved govt posts for SCs lie vacant for over a decade

GAP IN EXECUTION

Reserved govt posts for SCs lie vacant for over a decade

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

09.07.2021

Tamil Nadu may have 69% reservation, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect in representation on the ground. For nearly a decade at least 30,000 posts reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) are lying vacant in various government departments in Tamil Nadu, multiple sources confirmed to TOI. This, according to employees’ associations and activists, indicated the lack of will to implement the reservation policy in employment in the government sector.

Repeated demands and protests to draw attention of the higher authorities have yielded no results. “The vacancies in our department remain unfilled for several years now,” said an officer in the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department.

Admitting to the anomaly, a senior officer in Adi Dravidar Welfare department said they have issued a circular asking the district collectors and heads of each government department to furnish the details of the vacant posts.

“We have started the exercise. We will soon start the process of compiling the data,” said the officer on condition of anonymity. “The government is committed to filling the vacancies through a special drive,” he said, recalling such an assurance in the governor’s address in the state assembly recently.

Tamil Nadu’s reservation policy specifies that 18% of the 69% quota should be reserved for SCs in the recruitment process. The recruitment agencies like the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and the Teachers Recruitment Board have, however, failed miserably to maintain the quota, sources said.

VCK general secretary and MP D Ravikumar said 14,317 teaching and 4,643 non-teaching posts for SCs in the higher education institutions remained unfilled. “The backlog of vacancies are growing every year. The situation is no better in other departments,” said the MP. He said he had petitioned higher education minister K Ponmudi to look into the huge backlog.

Citing a RTI reply to a query, S Karuppaiah of Tamil Nadu Dalit Liberation Movement said 27,264 vacancies of posts meant for SCs were lying vacant in 2019. “Now the number would have surpassed 30,000. It is nothing but denying equal opportunity to the oppressed sections in the land of Periyar (E V Ramasamy) and Anna (C N Annadurai),” he said. A plethora of petitions to the chief minister’s special cell, minister for SC/ST and official departments concerned under the previous regime had no effect.

In March this year, the Centre had disclosed that at least 42,000 posts reserved for the SC and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes had been lying vacant in various Union ministries.

Members of Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisations said the government’s disinterest in filling vacancies derailed the reservation policy meant to ensure social justice. They noted the reservation policy was not followed in promotions too. “Police, education and two other departments followed reservation policies for promotions, while the rest of the government departments followed service rules. This should be taken up too,” said another official.

Govts ease travel restrictions & demand spikes, but flights are still a costly affair

Govts ease travel restrictions & demand spikes, but flights are still a costly affair

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.08.2021

While the Union and state governments have relaxed restrictions on air travel, airlines are yet to reduce ticket prices.

The aviation ministry, in a recent order said domestic flights can operate with 65% passenger capacity. Earlier, passenger capacity was capped at 50%. The increase in capacity is likely to help airlines to sell more seats.

However, starting fare for tickets is still at a higher slab and remains stable for one week’s advance booking and for two week’s advance booking. The one-way fare from Chennai to Mumbai is more than ₹5,000. Tickets from the city to Delhi cost ₹6,700 and ₹4,500 to Kolkata. Fares are higher to small towns from Chennai.

“Air fares may remain high as the airlines would want to make the most of people who will be flying after being stuck for a long time,” M K Ajit Kumar of Asia Pacific Tours said.

The fare is fixed based on the market trend, he said, adding that demand for tickets will be high in the coming months as travel has resumed and more relaxations are expected from state governments.

“People will travel if they have to irrespective of the fare,” Kumar said.

“The increase in capacity will be beneficial because demand is rising. There will be more seats available. Travel has resumed, particular as people have started to fly for business on metro routes,” Basheer Ahmed of Chennai Metro Travels said.

People will be able to fly for domestic holidays in the coming days as many state governments have relaxed entry and quarantine rules. The crowds at holiday destinations in Goa and Himachal Pradesh show that leisure travel will increase in the coming days.

“The resumption of travel in connection with trade and business and more flight services will encourage people to travel for leisure. Once domestic travel becomes normal it will help in the resumption of international travel,” said Ahmed.

Most state governments relaxed test and quarantine rules have been relaxed for passengers who have received both doses of vaccines. Chennai airport is also handling close to 60 departures and 60 arrivals a day as demand has gone up

.

Anna varsity to grant affiliation to 525 colleges

Anna varsity to grant affiliation to 525 colleges

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.07.2021

Anna University will grant affiliation to 525 engineering colleges, standalone architecture, MBA and MCA colleges for 2021-22 based on the online scrutiny of applications in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier, the university said it would conduct physical verification of colleges. However, due to the pandemic situation and less than a week’s time to grant affiliation to the technical institutions, the university plans to grant affiliation based on approval from AICTE and online scrutiny of applications.

In a circular to principals of all engineering colleges, the centre for affiliation of institutions at Anna University asked them to submit the soft copy of AICTE for approval for 2021-22.

“Grant of affiliation will be considered for the applied intake or new courses which are approved by the centre for academic courses and also by the AICTE. The non-applied courses and any modifications in intake submitted after the deadline of applications for affiliation will not be considered,” the circular said.

Further, the university also released instructions to colleges on how to pay affiliation fee online for 2021-22.

As of April 2021, 525 colleges applied for affiliation and around 16 colleges, including 14 engineering colleges, had not applied for affiliation for 2021-22.