Noida residents move SC over an ‘alarming’ rise in dog bite cases

Noida residents move SC over an ‘alarming’ rise in dog bite cases

Snehil.Sinha@timesgroup.com

Noida:24.09.2021

A residents’ group from Noida has moved the Supreme Court seeking its intervention in curbing dog bite cases in the city after the Allahabad high court refused to hear their appeal.

The public interest litigation (PIL), filed by a group of eight women residents from Noida’s Sector 137, states that despite the animal birth control programme, started by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) across the country, there has been “an alarming increase in the population of strays and a distressing rise in dog attacks on people”.

The plea also contends that the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2001, violates Article 21 (right to life) of the Indian Constitution. There are several laws for the protection of animals, including the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act,1960 and Animal Birth Control Rules, 2001, the petitioners say. However, none of these laws states anything clearly regarding dog bite cases.

“This is a huge issue in a place like Noida where thousands of people live in gated societies. While we need to protect animals, people also need to feel safe within the premises of their homes. Additionally, there is no mention in any law about who would be responsible for the trauma and cost of treatment in dog bite incidents,” Shashank Shukla, the counsel representing the residents’ group in the case, told TOI.

He added that there should also be a specific mechanism in place with the power given to state authorities to take decisions in dog bite cases. “In cities like Noida, we will also suggest that future town planning should involve designated feeding points for stray animals so that the safety of people and animals is taken care of,” Shukla said.

Dr Sujit Kumar Dutta, AWBI secretary, declined to comment. Chetna Joshi, AWBI-nominated member to the Municipal Corporation Monitoring and Implementation Committee, Haryana, however, said, “These are frivolous complaints filed by intolerant people. The court has already given relevant orders acknowledging the intolerance and the resulting failure to implement the ABC Rules 2001 in India by the Centre and states as well as the citizens.”

COUNSEL SAYS

In cities like Noida, we will also suggest that future town planning should involve designated feeding points for stray animals

Jamia to allow scholars with thesis deadline of December 31

Jamia to allow scholars with thesis deadline of December 31

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:24.09.2021

Jamia Millia Islamia on Thursday announced that the campus would reopen for the final-year PhD scholars who are due to submit their thesis by December 31.

The final-year semester students will also be allowed to attend clinical and practical classes in the offline mode from November in a “limited number”, the university said, adding that the Covid-19 protocol had to be adhered to. “The departmental library facility will be available for PhD and final-year semester students on production of their latest negative RT-PCR report or vaccination certificate,” registrar Nazim Hussain Jafri said.

According to a statement, “The campus shall be opened for PhD scholars who are due to submit their thesis on or before December 31. The hostel facilities shall remain suspended.”

The university added that teaching and examinations for all undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma courses would continue to be held online till further orders.

The university circular has advised all students and teachers to get vaccinated. Jamia is “sensitive to... the aspirations of students and at the same time the university is committed to the safety concerns, health and well-being” of its students and staff, it added.

Missed one heartbeat too many? You must see a doc

Missed one heartbeat too many? You must see a doc

DurgeshNandan.Jha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:24.09.2021

Heart palpitations are one of the common health concerns. But, in the majority of cases, we ignore them because they are known to occur when we are stressed or anxious.

However, cardiologists say, if the palpitations continue for a longer period and even when a person is not under stress, it may be a sign of some abnormality that needs medical attention.

Recently, doctors at Delhi PSRI hospital said they came across a 58-year-old man who had been having heart palpitations for three to four years. “The patient came to the hospital only when he started having breathing difficulty also,” Dr Amitabh Yaduvanshi, head of invasive cardiology and electrophysiology at PSRI hospital, said.

Imaging tests showed that instead of the heart beats arising from the upper right chamber and following a certain trajectory to spread to the heart (as is in a healthy person), in this case, there was additional heart beats to the extent that every third of his heartbeat was arising from an abnormal site, the Left Ventricular (LV) Summit.

It is rare, occurring in about four per cent of the cases of Ventricular Premature Complexes in which extra heart beats arise from one of the heart’s two lower pumping chambers.

“The extra heartbeat was putting pressure on the heart. If the patient had delayed visiting the hospital any further, it may have led to heart failure,” Dr Yaduvanshi said.

The doctors conducted a procedure in which radiofrequency energy (similar to microwave heat) is used to destroy a small area of heart tissue that is causing rapid and irregular heartbeats. An advanced electro-anatomical mapping system was used to identify the site of origin of the abnormal beat, Dr Yaduvanshi said.

“The palpitations or missed beats are common symptoms, but in some cases, it may be due to abnormalities in the heart. Abnormal heart beating should not be ignored.”

DOCTOR SAYS

The extra heartbeat was putting pressure on the heart. If the patient had delayed visiting the hospital, it may have led to heart failure

Salon told to pay ₹2cr for ‘botching’ model’s haircut

Salon told to pay ₹2cr for ‘botching’ model’s haircut

Saurabh Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:24.09.2021

If it wasn’t for the sum involved, one could perhaps joke that the salon operator was having a bad hair day. But Rs 2 crore is not a trifling sum and that is what the salon has to pay a model as punitive award for a haircut that allegedly wasn’t what she had hoped for.

National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) awarded this sum to the model on Tuesday for allegedly deficient services at a salon in a five-star hotel in Delhi in April 2018.

Justifying the award, NCRDC president RK Agrawal and member S M Kantikar held in their order that “…women are very cautious and careful with their hair. They spend a handsome amount on keeping hair in good condition. They are also emotionally attached with their hair. The complainant was a model for hair products because of her long hair... But due to hair cutting against her instructions, she lost her expected assignments and suffered a huge loss which completely changed her lifestyle and shattered her dream to be a top model.”

The model visited the salon on April 12, 2018, a week before she was to appear for an interview. Her regular hairdresser was unavailable that day and some other stylist apparently took over. The order noted, “According to the complainant, she specifically instructed the hairdresser for long flicks/layers covering her face in the front and at the back and four-inch straight hair trim from the bottom. It is alleged in the complaint that the complainant was wearing high-powered spectacles and was requested by the hairdresser to keep her head constantly down.”

While the model wanted a “simple haircut”, the hairdresser allegedly took over an hour on the task. Told she was getting a “London” haircut. The complainant was left in “utter shock and surprise”, when the hairdresser allegedly “chopped off her entire hair, leaving only four inches from the top”.

The haircare model complained to the salon management and was offered hair extension treatment for the interview or treatment of hair “free of cost.” On May 3, the model returned to the salon, but alleged later that “during treatment, her hair and scalp got completely damaged with excess ammonia and there was lot of irritation in the scalp”.

The NCRDRC order noted that the model “underwent severe mental breakdown and trauma due to negligence in cutting her hair and… finally lost her job”, and directed the hotel to pay her Rs 2 crore within eight weeks of the order.

0 8 WEEKS’ TIME TO SALON TO PAY UP

50k Covid ex gratia for suicides too: Govt to SC

50k Covid ex gratia for suicides too: Govt to SC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:24.09.2021

The Centre told the Supreme Court that all deaths, including suicides, within 30 days of persons testing Covid-positive, would be treated as ‘Covid death’ cases, entitling their families to Rs 50,000 ex gratia. Appreciating the government’s decision to extend help to lakhs of families, the court said on Thursday that India overall has managed to do what no other country has done.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justices MR Shah and AS Bopanna that the government broadened the definition of ‘Covid death’ to bring within its ambit deaths by suicide and also those who died after prolonged treatment for other ailments triggered by coronavirus infection. He also informed that a decision has been taken to disburse the ex gratia from State Disaster Relief Funds (SDRFs).

Family members of people committing suicide within 30 days from being diagnosed as Covid-19 positive as per ministry of health and family welfare and ICMR guidelines will also be entitled to avail financial help.

Death certs given before rules formed can be rectified: Govt

On Wednesday, the Centre had told the SC that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has fixed Rs 50,000 as ex gratia for the kin of Covid victims, which is payable from the SDRF. On Thursday, it elaborated on the decision to broaden the categories of ‘Covid death’. Any person who dies within 30 days of testing positive, either at home or hospital, whatever be the cause of death, would be certified to have died of Covid, it said.

This would extend the ex gratia relief to kin of almost all of 4.5 lakh people who died of Covid even though many hospitals in the past year and a half attributed the deaths to various reasons other than Covid, ranging from heart to lung failure. It would mean the states cumulatively would have to pay Rs 2,250 crore from the SDRFs.

“To make the scope broader and more inclusive, deaths occurring within 30 days from the date of testing or from the date of being clinically determined as a Covid-19 case, will be treated as ‘deaths due to Covid-19’, even if the death takes place outside the hospital/in-patient facility,” the Centre said in its affidavit.

Family of three held trying to fly to US on forged papers

Family of three held trying to fly to US on forged papers

New Delhi:24.09.2021

A man, his wife and daughter were apprehended at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport by Central Industrial Security Force personnel for trying to travel to the United States using forged documents, officials said on Thursday.

The family, from Mehsana in Gujarat, were intercepted at terminal 3 when they were headed to board a flight via Frankfurt in Germany to Santa Cruz in USA, officials said. CISF officials said that at around 11.30 pm on Wednesday, Ashvin Kumar Shankarbhai Patel, his wife Sudhaben Ashvin Kumar Patel and daughter Ashvinkumar Patel – all holding Indian passports — were in the check-in area of T-3. However, the visas on their passports appreared fake, said an official. After confirmation from the relevant embassies that the visas were fakes, the trio were then handed over to the assistant foreigners regional registration officer at the airport. TNN

Won’t interfere: HC on MP domicile in PG med admission

Won’t interfere: HC on MP domicile in PG med admission

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal:24.09.2021

A division bench of MP high court refused to interfere with a decision of the state government which provides for preferential treatment to domicile of MP and MBBS students passing out of medical colleges of Madhya Pradesh in the admission to PG medical courses. The court said that a petition on the issue is pending in the Supreme Court, therefore they can't interfere in the matter.

In the petition filed by the Association of Private Medical Universities, legality of section (2) and sub-section (3 & 4) of section 13 (d) was challenged. Under these rules, only domicile of MP, and those students who have done their MBBS from a medical college in the state, would be called for in the first round of counselling for admission into PG medical courses. This amounts to 100 percent reservation and is in violation of the Supreme Court order in the Pradeep Jain case, the petition said.

The state government in response had said that it has the powers to frame rules for admission in the private medical colleges. Half the PG seats in medical colleges are in the central quota. There is no reservation in practice and a domicile of MP and a student who has done his or her MBBS from the state has a greater chance to stay back in the state after completing their education. It further said that the order passed by the Supreme Court in the Pradeep Jain case has been challenged in the apex court and the case is pending.