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AIADMK meets guv with plaint on DMK’s ‘corruption, collection’

AIADMK meets guv with plaint on DMK’s ‘corruption, collection’

Says Govt Shows ‘Undue Interest’ In Kodanad Case

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.08.2021

A day after a war of words between the ruling DMK and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu assembly over cases relating to burglary and suspicious deaths at late chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad estate, an AIADMK delegation led by party coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami called on governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday and submitted a memorandum alleging “corruption and collection” by the DMK. The party charged the ruling DMK with “pursuing vendetta politics and showing undue interest in Kodanad estate cases.”

Questioning the way tender rules are being flouted by the government, the memorandum also said that “ultra-constitutional powers”, comprising chief minister M K Stalin’s family members, were controlling the government.

“When the Kodanad case is in court, how can CM Stalin say conducting reinvestigation is part of his party’s poll promise?” asked Palaniswami.

POINT BY POINT: Former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam in Chennai on Thursday

EPS: DMK showing undue interest in protecting accused

Palaniswami said, “All the witnesses in the Kodanad case have been examined and only the final hearing is pending in court. But the DMK is showing undue interest in protecting the accused and maligning the AIADMK.”

He was speaking to reporters after the party delegation met governor Purohit. Former AIADMK ministers S P Velumani, P Thangamani, C Ve Shanmugham and D Jayakumar, besides AIADMK deputy coordinators K P Munusamy and R Vaithilingam were part of the delegation.

The AIADMK delegation’s visit comes against the backdrop of a series of searches carried out by the DVAC on the premises of former ministers S P Velumani and M R Vijayabhaskar and renewed focus on investigation into the Kodanad heist and death cases. Questioning the motive of the DMK government, the AIADMK members had announced boycott of assembly proceedings for two days from Wednesday.

Palaniswami charged that cases were being foisted on former AIADMK ministers. He said the DMK government had sought to divert attention of the people after its white paper failed to cut much ice. “DMK had promised to abolish NEET soon after coming to power. While the parents of students are waiting anxiously, the DMK government has constituted a committee to decide further course of action on NEET,” Palaniswami said.

EPS alleged that the DMK government was under-reporting Covid numbers but going overboard on the Kodanad case. “Instead of focusing on containing the Covid pandemic, when the state is still reporting cases above 1,800 per day and with the threat of a third wave, the DMK government is focusing its attention on vendetta politics,” he said.

Neet-UG gets bigger as over 16L candidates register for it

Neet-UG gets bigger as over 16L candidates register for it

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:20.08.2021

One of the biggest competitive undergraduate entrance exams, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or Neet-UG has got bigger, breaching the16 lakh registrations mark for the first time. The number of candidates appearing in Indian languages too increased significantly in the last five years – up from 1.05 lakh in 2017 to 3.4 lakh in 2021.

The exam will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on September 12, 2021. Analysing the 2021 registration data accessed exclusively by the TOI, the number of registrations have shown significant growth in the last five years, up from 11.38 lakh in 2017 to 16.14 lakh in 2021. The number of candidates registering increased by nearly a lakh between pre and post pandemic period.

Women have been dominating this field of study and in the last five years the number of female candidates have grown by 40.8%, with more than 9 lakh candidates registering for the latest edition of the Neet-UG.

Neet-UG is administered in 13 languages, including 12 Indian languages. While the number of candidates taking the exam in Hindi has more than doubled in the last five years – up from 1.2 lakh in 2017 to 2.28 lakh in 2021, other languages too have witnessed gradual increase in the number of candidates preferring to appear in their mother tongue.

Apart from Hindi, Gujarati has the highest number with nearly 50,000 aspirants, followed by Bengali with over 35,000 candidates and Tamil with close to 20,000 candidates.

There are six states which have more than two lakh candidates and comprise 53.4% of the total candidates. Maharashtra has been sending the largest number of candidates, registering 2.16 lakh in 2021, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 1.93 lakh aspirants and Rajasthan third with1.16 lakh registrations.

Full report on www.toi.in

Hindi reply to TN MP’s plea: Follow Official Languages Act, HC tells Centre

Hindi reply to TN MP’s plea: Follow Official Languages Act, HC tells Centre

K.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

Madurai:20.08.2021

Allowing Madurai MP Su Venkatesan’s plea that sought a direction to the Centre to ensure that all communications between the Centre and the state of Tamil Nadu and its people be in English alone, the Madras high court on Thursday directed the Centre to strictly follow the provisions of the Official Languages Act.

A division bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice M Duraiswamy observed that once a representation is given in English, it is the duty of the Centre to send a reply only in English as the same would be in consonance with the provisions of the Official Languages Act.

Observing that this is an era of communication and information, the judges said a few languages in the country are thousands of years old and many are 100 years old. The governments should take steps for preservation and development of all languages.

Venkatesan had moved court after he received a Hindi reply from the ministry of state for home affairs to a representation he sent seeking to set up exam centres for the CRPF paramedical recruitment drive in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry last year.

The Centre submitted that the reply was in Hindi inadvertently. The Centre further submitted that there would not be any violation to the Official Languages Act and the Official Language Rules in the future. Recording the submissions, the judges directed the Centre, its officials and other instrumentalities to strictly follow provisions of the Act and Rules.

Justice Kirubakaran, famous for razor-sharp queries, retires

Justice Kirubakaran, famous for razor-sharp queries, retires

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Chennai:20.08.2021 

Be it his judgments or observations, Justice N Kirubakaran always had a lot to say — and most made headlines more often than not. His last day at office as judge of the Madras high court was no different.

At his farewell event on Thursday, Justice Kirubakaran, feted for his people-oriented judgments, sought regional benches of the Supreme Court and closure of Tasmac shops partially so that total prohibition would become a reality one day.

Justice Kirubakaran is best remembered for his relentless battle against the state’s liquor policy and strove to streamline legal education and practice. It was due to his series of rulings that the procedure to verify antecedents of lawyer-aspirants before enrolment was put in place. He had zero-tolerance when it came to encroachments and land grab by individuals and even corporates. He evolved a unique courtquery system of shooting dozens of questions to bureaucrats in order to unearth irregularities or set right anomalies.

In his farewell speech on Thursday, Justice Kirubakaran was earnest in his appeal to the legal fraternity, generous in complimenting his brother judges and his staff with the right dose of humour throughout.

Thanking his parents, Justice Kirubakaran became emotional and apologised to his wife and daughter for not having had enough quality family time throughout his career. He also recalled the guidance from his senior – the late Habibullah Basha, former advocate general of Tamil Nadu.

Candid in his self-introspection, Justice Kirubakaran said he was not a famous lawyer and that his elevation to the bench was to give representation to the vanniyar community. “However, I was never swayed by any considerations after I became a judge,” Justice Kirubakaran said.

He also heaped praise on the Supreme Court judge-designate Justice M M Sundresh for his guidance throughout his career. He even let down his guard, albeit intentionally, referring to Justice Sundresh as ‘machan’, triggering giggles from the audience. He also noted professional and emotional support from Justice M Sathyanarayanan, who is now NGT member in Pune from where he flew down to attend the function.

“Though I am demitting office today, I have failed in my endeavour to streamline legal profession and education and close down Tasmac,” Justice Kirubakaran said and appealed to the legal fraternity to work towards restoring the image of the lawyer community, which he felt has taken a beating over years.

As for the criticism that he often indulged in ‘judicial overreach,’ Justice Kirubakaran said he acted by his conscience. “Sometimes, I might have conducted a (judicial) kangaroo court, which is necessary in the interests of justice.”

Stating that New Delhi and Mumbai are power centres in judiciary, the retiring judge appealed to the union government to amend the Constitution and set up regional benches of the Supreme Court to serve people from every nook and corner of the nation.