Woman in Canada moves HC for police clearance

Woman in Canada moves HC for police clearance

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:21.10.2021

The Gujarat high court sought a response from the Indian embassy in Toronto, Canada, over a petition filed by a woman who is seeking permanent residence there, but her citizenship process had been stalled because of the lack of a clearance certificate.

Mansa police in Gandhinagar district was not issuing the necessary certificate because the woman’s husband and in-laws objected to her request. After she filed a petition in the high court in August, the cops issued the police verification certificate. For the process of the clearance certificate, the high court impleaded the embassy in Toronto and sought a reply from it. This is because she filed her application with the embassy in Toronto.

The case involves one Palak Patel from Mansa, who went to Canada in 2016 on a work visa. She did not return to India since and applied for permanent residence there. When the process was initiated and the immigration authorities sought a clearance certificate from local police, Patel’s husband and in-laws objected to the process and the cops did not issue a certificate. The inaction on the part of the police at the behest of Patel’s in-laws stalled the process. This brought her to the high court, said her advocate Nilay Patel.

The high court inquired with the authorities about the police verification certificate not being issued, particularly when there was no offence registered against the woman and the cops immediately issued the certificate. The question of the clearance certificate was put before the passport authority and the court was informed that the passport authority can only function as a postman in this case, as it has no role to play with the person already residing in Canada and applying to the authorities in Toronto. The high court made the embassy a party respondent and posted a further hearing in this case for October 22.

Plea in HC to stop making false promises on NEET exam

Plea in HC to stop making false promises on NEET exam

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:21.10.2021

Madras high court on Wednesday ordered notice to the state government and DMK in a PIL seeking to restrain both from making false promises regarding cancellation of the national eligibilitycum-entrance test (NEET) for MBBS admission till a conclusive decision is reached.

Petitioner K S Vetrivel stated that despite knowing that the validity of NEET was upheld by Supreme Court, the state government announced that it was very keen on scrapping the test. Such false promises created widespread confusion and expectations among students that NEET would not be conducted this year. However, in July, the government asked students to prepare for NEET, causing shock and consequently stress to students. Some of them even resorted to extreme steps.

The petitioner said it is high time the government stopped giving false hopes to medical aspirants till a conclusive and viable solution is arrived at.

Central govt staff to get ad hoc bonus for FY21

Central govt staff to get ad hoc bonus for FY21

New Delhi:13.10.2021

The government has sanctioned non-productivity linked or ad hoc bonus for central government employees for fiscal year 2020-21.

In an office memorandum, the department of expenditure under the finance ministry said the employees of central para military forces and armed forces too would be eligible for the bonus.

Employees who were in service as on March 31, 2021, and have rendered at least six months of continuous service during 2020-21 fiscal year would be eligible for this ad hoc bonus.

The non-productivity linked bonus (ad hoc bonus) would be paid to the central government employees in Group C and all non-gazetted employees in Group B, who are not covered by any productivity- linked bonus scheme. The calculation ceiling for payment of this bonus would be monthly emoluments of Rs 7,000.

“The quantum of ad hoc bonus will be worked out on the basis of average emoluments/calculation ceiling whichever is lower,” the department of expenditure said. To calculate ad hoc bonus for one day, the average emoluments in a year will be divided by 30.4 (average number of days in a month).

This will, thereafter, be multiplied by the number of days of bonus granted. Giving an illustration, the memorandum said given the calculation ceiling of monthly emoluments of Rs 7,000, the nonproductivity linked bonus or ad-hoc bonus for 30 days would work out to be Rs 6,908.

It also clarified that in case of employees who resigned, retired from service or expired before March 31, 2021, the ad hoc bonus would be paid only to those who superannuated or retired on medical grounds or died before March 31, 2021, but after completing at least six months regular service during the year. AGENCIES

The calculation ceiling for payment of this bonus would be monthly emoluments of ₹7,000

‘Govt must move HC for capital punishment to Sooraj’

UTHRA CASE

‘Govt must move HC for capital punishment to Sooraj’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kollam:13.10.2021

MP NK Premachandran on Tuesday demanded that the state government should move the high court seeking capital punishment for Sooraj who was convicted in the Uthra murder case.

Speaking to media persons after meeting the family members of Uthra of Veelasseril, Eram, Anchal, here at their house, he said the state government should honour Uhtra’s family’s opinion on the sentence. He pointed out that despite the Uthra case being one of the rarest of rare cases the court did not order capital punishment.

Though the evidence gathering and conduct of the case by the prosecution were done in a flawless manner, the convict did not get the deserved punishment, he said. Sooraj, Uthra’s husband who used a snake to kill his wife, a differently-abled woman, received double life term in addition to 17 years of rigorous imprisonment in four cases charged against him.

Boy mistakes train exit door as toilet’s, falls to his death

Boy mistakes train exit door as toilet’s, falls to his death

Kottayam:13.10.2021

A 10-year-old boy was killed after he fell from a moving train near Kottayam in Kerala on Tuesday. It is suspected that the boy mistook the train’s exit door for that of the toilet, leading to the accident.

Mohammed Ishan, son of one Siddique of Mambadu in Malappuram, met with the accident around 12:30am at Moolavattom in Kottayam municipal limits. The boy and his family along with other relatives were returning to Malappuram from Thiruvananthapuram by Kochuveli-Nilambur Rajya Rani Express when the mishap occurred. The boy had gone to the toilet, according to family members. After realising that the boy had fallen down, they pulled the chain and stopped the train.

People staying near the railway track searched the area and found the boy lying under a culvert. The boy was taken to the general hospital but his life could not be saved. TNN

No capacity restriction for domestic flights from October 18

No capacity restriction for domestic flights from October 18

Saurabh Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:13,10.2021 

Airlines will be allowed to operate as many scheduled domestic flights as they did in pre-pandemic times from October 18. The aviation ministry on Tuesday decided to lift variable capacity deployment ceilings in place since May 25, 2020, when domestic operations resumed after a two-month suspension. While they restarted at onethird of the March 2020 level, domestic schedules are currently at 85% of that. The festive season will now see more flights well before Diwali.

Apart from following Covid protocol, the domestic side now has two restrictions in form of minimum and maximum fare caps that continue along with no serving or selling of meals on less than twohour journeys. Bleeding flight caterers, however, have requested this curb to be lifted too, urgently.

The travel industry is hoping that with the government allowing foreign tourists on charters from this Friday and on non-charters from next month, scheduled international flights are allowed to partially resume at least to and from places where Covid is in control.

The aviation ministry’s Tuesday order said: “After review of the current status of scheduled domestic operations (and) passenger demand for air travel... it has been decided to restore scheduled domestic air operations with effect from October 18, 2021, without any capacity restriction. The airlines/airport operators shall, however, ensure that the guidelines to contain the spread of Covid are strictly adhered to and Covid-appropriate behaviour is strictly enforced by them during the travel.”

EASE IN RESTRICTIONS

No half-yearly quarterly exams for Class X, XI XII state board students

No half-yearly quarterly exams for Class X, XI XII state board students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  13.10.2021

School education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Tuesday said that there will be no quarterly, half-yearly exam for state board students of Class X, XI and XII this year.

Speaking to reporters after attending the district level educational officers meeting, the minister said, "There is no time to conduct quarterly and half-yearly exams. However, the department is planning to conduct a mock exam in December to allay the fears of students about board exams and to train them."

He said the board exams will be conducted either in February end or March next year. Ahead of reopening of schools for Classes I to VIII, the district level educational officers meeting was held in Chennai. In the meeting, it was decided to follow standard operating procedures announced for conducting physical classes for Classes IX to XII for lower classes as well.

"The chief educational officers have now well experienced about dos and don'ts while reopening schools. We have asked the CEOs and DEOs to conduct surprise inspections after reopening for Classes I to VIII on November 1," the minister said.

When asked if there will be any relaxation in wearing masks for younger children, he said as per the existing SOPs issued by the health department all students have to wear masks inside classrooms. "But, we are not sure how long the young children can wear masks and schools may even have to conduct classes for just one hour for the first few days," Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said.