SC denies compassionate job to ‘divorced’ daughter

SC denies compassionate job to ‘divorced’ daughter

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:15.09.2021

It is a classic case of a conspiracy that went awfully wrong in the final stretch. A woman took divorce on mutual consent months after the death of her mother, a government employee, to get a government job on compassionate grounds but ended without the job and her husband as the Supreme Court saw through the deception.

A bench of Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose denied compassionate employment to the daughter of a deceased government employee when it found that she conspiratorially annulled her marriage on mutual consent after her mother’s death with the sole aim of cornering a government job.

Petitioner V Somyashree’s mother, who was employed with the Karnataka government as a second division assistant at Mandya district treasury, died in harness on March 25, 2012. Soumyashree was married at the time of her mother’s death and hence disentitled for compassionate employment. Six months later, she initiated divorce by mutual consent and on March 20, 2013, a trial court annulled her marriage. The next day (March 21, 2013), she applied to the authorities for appointment on compassionate grounds. The authorities rejected the application. Two years later, she moved the state administrative tribunal which too rejected her claim. But the Karnataka HC set aside the tribunal’s order and directed state government to consider giving her appointment on compassionate grounds. The state appealed against it before the SC.

Allowing the appeal, the SC bench said, “The chronology of dates and events would suggest that only for the purpose of getting appointment on compassionate grounds, the decree of divorce by mutual consent has been obtained. Otherwise, as a married daughter she was not entitled to the appointment on compassionate grounds.”

In blow to WB ‘organiser teachers’, SC says let qualified people teach primary students

Let qualified persons teach students in primary classes,” the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, refusing to entertain petitions seeking appointment of ‘organiser teachers’, who worked on the basis of a rule that was abrogated 40 years ago to spread education in the rural hinterland of West Bengal, as primary teachers, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra. Refusing to entertain petitions filed by organiser teachers and their associations, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and BV Nagarathna said, “Today qualified teachers are available. Organiser teachers don’t meet the qualification criteria prescribed by National Council for Teacher Education.”

Postmortem report can’t be sole basis for conviction: SC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:15.09.2021

Holding that a person cannot be convicted merely on the basis of postmortem report, the Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted a man who was sentenced to life imprisonment for unnatural death of his wife and quashed trial court and Patna high court order convicting him on the basis of medical report which said that she died of throttling.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Abhay S Oka said the guilt of the accused has not been established beyond a reasonable doubt and the circumstances established by the prosecution do not lead to only one possible inference regarding the guilt of the accused. The court also noted that there was no eyewitnesses in the case and the relationship between the husband and wife was not strained to indicate any foul play on his behalf.

In this case, the husband contended that she died of burn injuries as she caught fire while cooking and family members tried their best to douse the fire. The prosecution, however, rubbished his claim as the autopsy report said the death was due to asphyxia. Going by the findings of a post-mortem report, the trial court and the HC convicted him and awarded life imprisonment. Examining statements of all witnesses and evidence, the apex court said the guilt of the accused was not proved beyond doubt and acquitted him. “In this case, neither the prosecution witnesses have deposed to that effect nor any other material has been placed on record to show that the relationship between the appellant and the deceased was strained in any manner. Moreover, the appellant was not the only person residing in the house where the incident took place and it is brought on record that the parents of the appellant were also present on the date of the incident in the house. Therefore, it can be said that the facts established do not rule out the existence of any other hypothesis,” said Justice Oka who penned the verdict.

Another MBBS aspirant ends life a day after NEET

Another MBBS aspirant ends life a day after NEET

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ariyalur:15.09.2021

An MBBS aspirant in Ariyalur district, who appeared for the national eligibility cum entrance test (NEET) on Sunday, was found hanging at her house late on Monday. The deceased has been identified as K Kanimozhi, 17. The girl’s father Karunanidhi is a lawyer practising in Jayankondam court.

Kanimozhi allegedly ended her life at her house at Thularankurichi near Udayarpalayam over fear of failure in the test, when her parents were attending a function at Ariyalur. Her elder sister is a student at a private college in Perambalur. Her family took her body to their native at Sathambadi in Ariyalur district, where her final rites were conducted in the evening.

Sathambadi panchayat president Thanga Ravichandran said that the girl was a student of a private school at Namakkal and had scored 562 out of 600 in Class XII board examinations. Her score in Class X was 469 out of 500. She appeared sad after appearing for NEET at a centre in Thanjavur as she had apprehension that she may not clear NEET.

Udayarpalayam police took up the investigation.

It is the second such suicide in the state in the last two days. Dhanush, 19, of Mettur in Salem district had ended his life before appearing for NEET.

Chief minister M K Stalin expressed shock over the death of Kanimozhi and he sought to drive away NEET through legal means. “I assure the students and their parents that there will be no compromise on abolishing NEET with the consent of the president of India,” said the CM. The chief minister also said that impersonation, question paper leak and malpractices at the coaching centres proved that NEET is not an exam that weighs the eligibility of the students.

Registering his condolence, former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami asked the DMK to put an end to the ‘political drama’ over NEET and explain the reality to the students. The former CM also demanded the state government to provide counselling for the MBBS aspirants after appearing for NEET.

Former chief minister O Panneerselvam said that it was disheartening that the students were taking such extreme steps, while all political parties in the state were raising pitch against the NEET.

Calling it an unfortunate event, which should not happen to any student in future, TMC president G K Vasan MP said that political parties should not give any false hope to the students and their parents by politicising education.

MDMK general secretary Vaiko demanded the central government to give consent to the anti-NEET bill tabled by the DMK government. “NEET imposed by the BJP cost the lives of 15 students in Tamil Nadu. The Constitution of India has vested the state government with the power of enacting a law over education in the concurrent list for protecting the interest of the state,” said Vaiko.

No additional seats as NMC won’t inspect colleges due to Covid

No additional seats as NMC won’t inspect colleges due to Covid

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.09.2021

Increase of 100 additional seats sought for a government medical college in Coimbatore and nearly 300 additional seats sought by at least three self-financing colleges and deemed universities will not be added to the seat matrix this year as the National Medical Council’s medical assessment and rating board (MARB) has said it will not be able to send teams to inspect these colleges due to Covid-19.

The directorate of medical education had sought to increase seats in Coimbatore Medical College from 150 to 250 as part of the plan to increase strength in existing medical colleges. Others including SRM Medical College and Chennai Medical College Trichy had applied for an increase of at least 100 seats each. Approval for additional seats is granted after a detailed inspection by the NMCappointed committee.

The commission, which sent teams for inspection at the peak of the second wave to most colleges including to the 11 new institutions in TN until the second week of August, denied inspections later. In the last week of August, it wrote to medical colleges and state governments saying applications for increase of seats for 2021-22 will be carried to the next academic year.

The letter said applications for increase in seats can’t be processed due to constraints of sending assessors to physically inspect colleges. Sources said the members discussed the possibility of permitting all applicants to admit students for this year but decided not to do so without physical assessment of infrastructure and faculty.

Most medical colleges, which had created infrastructure and appointed additional faculty, were disappointed. One of them even moved the Madras high court seeking intervention. On September 8, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said records show NMC inspections were held until May 19 but cited “prevailing pandemic situation” in a letter dated August 27 to postpone inspection. The court, he said, “Is not convinced with the reason … since the situation has not worsened after 19.06.2021.” Posting the case for Wednesday, the court asked NMC to explain if there is any scope for conducting another inspection to decide on the college’s request.

HC asks if moving education to Concurrent List was legal

Tells Centre & State To Reply To PIL

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:15.09.2021

A day after the Tamil Nadu assembly passed a bill to circumvent NEET for admissions to medical courses, the Madras high court wondered if the Emergency-era transfer of education as a subject from the State List to the Concurrent List amounted to tinkering with the basic structure of the Constitution.

The court also remarked that the 42nd constitutional amendment of 1976 had not taken education out of the state’s purview entirely, as it is still on the Concurrent List and not under the Union List. “Even though the matter was taken away from one list to another, there was no complete takeover of the subject as such,” said the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu on Tuesday.

The court made the observations while hearing a public interest writ petition filed by Aram Seyya Virumbu Trust, represented by DMK legislator Dr Ezhilan Naganathan, questioning the constitutionality of the 42nd amendment.

Ariyalur girl, 17, ends life over NEET

Kanimozhi, 17, of Jayankondam in Ariyalur district, who appeared for NEET on Sunday committed suicide on Tuesday, the second such death within two days in TN. Kanimozhi had told her parents that some questions were tough and that she was concerned about the outcome. P 7

HC: There has to be equitable distribution of edu resources

The PIL said, “By virtue of transferring the subject of education from List II to List III, the states’ executive/ legislative autonomy in matters of education has become subservient to Union’s executive/legislative powers.”

Admitting the petition, the first bench observed: “Vast number of places do not have medical institutions. Why should MBBS dreams of students in certain states, where there are no medical colleges, remain unfulfilled just because the state does not have a medical college?”

Batting for ‘equitable distribution’ of educational resources, the court said: “One can respect the sentiments of the petitioner but, at the same time, please remember we have vast parts of this country where they continue to be kind of underdeveloped without the resources that other places have … Therefore, there has to be a certain amount to equitable distribution of the educational resources or making it available to students from places where it may not be so readily available.” “Even now, unfortunately, we don’t consider people from northeast as mainstream Indians, which is a tragedy because of their looks we call them Nepalese or Chinese. But they are also as much Indian as you and I,” the court said.

“They come from places where such infrastructures are not available, so we must consider all of them,” the court added, and directed the Union government to respond to the plea in eight weeks.

The court then suo motu impleaded the Tamil Nadu government as a party-respondent and directed the state to report its views.

NEET solvers’ gang busted; woman, daughter arrested

NEET solvers’ gang busted; woman, daughter arrested

Rajeev.Dikshit@timesgroup.com

Varanasi:14.09.2021  TOI Lucknow

Varanasi police claimed to have busted a solvers’ gang during NEET exam with the arrest of a woman and her daughter, who’s a BDS-II student of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Sunday.

Police said involvement of a KGMU doctor in the gang has also come to light while a Patna-based person who is known by initials PK is its leader. NEET authorities have been alerted about the gang, which has a network in north-east region.

Commissioner of police A Satish Ganesh said, “Acting on a tip-off the cops of crime branch raided a NEET exam centre at St Francis Xavier School in Sona Talab area under the limits of Sarnath police station in afternoon session on Sunday while ensuring that candidates were not disturbed during the raid. The crime branch cops caught Juli Kumari, who was appearing in the exam in the name of Heena Biswas.”

Solvers’ gang is operated by its mastermind from Patna

The cops also nabbed Juli’s mother Babita Devi of Patna. However, the solvers’ gang member Vikas Kumar Mahto of Khagadia district, who was accompanying Babita and Juli, managed to escape.

A fake Aadhaar card, answer sheet of NEET exam-2021, admit card, photograph, two mobile phones and other documents were recovered from them. An FIR was lodged under section 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any document which he knows or has reason to believe to be a forged document)and 34 (criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention) of IPC against them. During interrogation, Juli divulged that Mahto, who had become friend of her brother Abhay Kushwaha during his stay in Patna for the preparations of competitive examination, had come with a proposal of paying Rs 5 lakhs if she agreed to appear in NEET exam in place of other girl to qualify it. Babita said that she fell in trap and convinced Juli, who had taken admission in BDS at BHU after qualifying NEET two years ago, to appear in the exam. Babita said that she had received Rs 50,000 in advance.

The CP said that the arrested woman and her daughter have divulged that the solvers’ gang is run by its mastermind known as PK from Patna. They also informed that PK rarely used phones and preferred to communicate through courier and travel by trains only. “After PK gets contracts from aspirants, his accomplices arrange the solvers,” said CP, mentioning that more details about the gang are being made.

No highrises, mobile towers near Taj Mahal

No highrises, mobile towers near Taj Mahal

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

Agra:14.09.2021

Highrises and mobile towers can no longer be built in a 1.5-km radius behind the Taj Mahal to keep the skyline unobstructed. The Agra administration has incorporated the provision in the city’s master plan, which the government has to now approve.

“No construction higher than 25m can come up behind the Taj Mahal so the panoramic view of the monument is visible without an obstruction in the background,” Dr Rajendra Pensiya, vice chairperson of the Agra Development Authority, told TOI.

Four towers, about 50-60m high, were visible behind Taj

“The decision was taken in a recent board meeting after a survey in March last year by the ADA engineering team,” said Amit Gupta, divisional commissioner, Agra, who is the ADA chairperson.

The body had received several complaints about impeded views of the monument.

Four towers, about 50-60m high, were visible behind the Taj — three on the west side and one on the east. “One of these mobile towers was demolished. The height of two others was reduced to 25m. One high-tension electric pole remains on the east side. We are in the process of moving it, but it will take time,” Pensiya said. There is just one highrise, by which they mean a building taller than four floors, in the backdrop.

The administration is also considering the trees in the background as obstruction. “There are several old trees which are 50m high but cutting them is not possible because they fall under the Taj Trapezium Zone (a buffer area marked out to save the monument from pollution). To cut trees under the zone, we need permission from the Supreme Court,” said Pensiya.

In 2013, a four-day convention of Unesco experts on visual integrity was held in Agra. “The ASI is bound to ensure the visual integrity mandate of Unesco sites, including the Taj Mahal, followed by the 2013 convention,” Rajiv Saxena, vice president of the Tourism Guild Agra, said. Former Agra circle senior conservation assistant Munazzar Ali told TOI that ASI norms stipulate a ban on construction in a 100-m radius around monuments and a 15-m height cap for construction in a 300-m radius.

ASI superintending archaeologist (Agra circle) Vasant Swarnkar said it was a long-pending discussion about the view of the monument. “This is a welcome step."