NEWS TODAY 3.12.2024

 

ED raid on pvt med cols

ED raid on pvt med cols

RohitKhanna@timesofindia.com  04.12.2024

Kolkata : The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted raids on 19 premises across West Bengal, including seven medical colleges in the state, in connection with alleged quota corruption in MBBS admissions at private medical colleges. While absconding Trinamool Yuva leader Vinay Mishra is the director of a medical college, Malay Pit, a close aide of Anubrata Mandal, is director of another medical college.

Searches were also conducted at the Haldia residence of former CPM leader Laxman Seth. Two ED teams reached the Salt Lake BC block residence of a relative of an owner of a medical college. They searched the residence and took documents from the owner. Another team reached the medical college near Jadavpur in the evening. It all started after ED initiated a case based on an FIR at the Electronic Complex police station. Allegations suggest that fake documents were used for NRI quota admissions since 2021. Each of the seven medical colleges under scrutiny has 23 seats reserved for NRIs. These colleges charge between Rs 1.2 crore to Rs 1.7 crore annually as tuition fees from students admitted under the NRI quota. According to ED sources, cumulatively Rs 28 crore was mopped up by each of these medical colleges each year

HC refuses to vacate stay on PG med counselling results

HC refuses to vacate stay on PG med counselling results 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 04.12.2024

Bhopal : MP high court on Tuesday refused to vacate the stay on declaring results of counselling for admission into PG medical courses on an application moved by state govt. The court stayed declaration of results following a petition filed by some candidates challenging normalisation of marks carried out the second time of candidates registered with MP. They argued that the normalisation process had already been carried out by NEET and there was no reason to do it a second time.

An application was moved on behalf of the state to vacate the stay, which the Bench of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf rejected. In the last hearing, HC issued a notice to National Board of Examination in Medical Science as director, medical education, said that the merit list has been prepared by the board and counselling is being conducted in the state according to norms. Dr Abhishek Shukla and some other candidates in their petition argued that NEET had adopted normalisation while preparing the merit list but the state undertook the normalisation process for the second time with the candidates registered for admission in the state medical colleges. This has brought their position in the merit list lower despite their better ranking in the NEET merit list

KEA staffer shared data of students with seat-blocking scamsters: Cops 10 Suspects In 10 Days Of Police Custody

KEA staffer shared data of students with seat-blocking scamsters: Cops 10 Suspects In 10 Days Of Police Custody 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 04.12.2024

Bengaluru : A staff assistant working in Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which oversees admission to professional courses in the state, shared the details of 150 students eligible to land select engineering seats with three outsiders. They used the data and masterminded the seat-blocking scam during 2024-25 admissions, investigations have revealed. The outsiders and their associates entered options in the students’ names without their knowledge and the seats allotted to them fell vacant as the candidates did not report to the colleges. 

The unfilled seats were later transferred to respective colleges to be filled up under the management quota, multiple sources privy to the developments said. Police have arrested the KEA staffer, Avinash BS, 36, of KN Extension, Yeshwantpur; the three outsiders who ran the racket — Sriharsha TM, 42, of JP Nagar III Phase; Prakash SR, 4 and Puneet SL, 27, from Kadur, Chikkamagaluru — and the trio’s associates, Shashikumar SK, 34 and Purushottam R, 24, from Kadur and Ravishankar SC, 56, from Satanur in Kanakapura; Tilak RG, 60, from Seshadripuram and BTM Layout residents Noushad Abbas, 42 and Dilshad Alam, 33. 

The 10 accused were produced before a local court in the city Monday and were taken into 10 days of police custody. City police commissioner B Dayananda said KEA officials lodged a complaint, accusing miscreants of blocking seats and illegally handing them over to the managements of BMS Engineering College, Akash Institute of Engineering and Technology and New Horizon College of Engineering. “We began the investigation with the IP address used by the miscreants to steal the login names and passwords of 52 candidates,” he said. DCP (north) Saidulu Adavath told TOI that they have to question the management of three colleges. 

“Prima facie, it is proven that over 150 engineering seats have been blocked by the suspects. What happened after the seats were handed over to the college, we have to investigate,” he said. Rs 2 lakh per seat On how the racket operated, a senior police officer said that Sriharsha runs a job consultancy in Dollars Colony, Sanjaynagar. With Avinash’s help, he stole data of candidates who did not appear even after the third round of counselling. “Data was shared with Prakash, who illegally using login IDs and passwords, would enter their preferred colleges and block the govt quota seats in their name. In this way, the accused blocked 30 seats in BMS College, seven in Akash and 15 in New Horizon,” a senior police officer explained. 

Police further said, “Avinash claims that he was promised Rs 2 lakh per seat and Sriharsha claims a few persons from private colleges promised them around Rs 3 lakh per seat. They landed in custody just a day ago. We need to check their bank accounts.” Another senior cop said they will start questioning the college management officials, once they get detailed statements from the 10 suspects. According to sources, the accused set four mobile phones and two laptops they had used in the crime on fire. Police seized some burnt remnants of the devices. 

WHAT IS SEAT BLOCKING? 

During counselling, students can enter their preferred college choices. Once the allotment results are announced, students can accept the allotted seat, leave it, or wait for an upgrade in the next round. When students keep the seat until the final round and yet don’t report to college, the seat goes to management, which can offer it to anyone of their choice at a much higher fee. If the student surrenders the seat, it goes back into the pool and a deserving student can pick it up. In this case, a KEA official and his associates stole the credentials of students to keep the seats blocked until the last round.

HOW THE SCAM CAME TO LIGHT Seven repeater students approached KEA, claiming that they were unable to participate in the counselling this year. KEA pointed out that it’s because they selected seats last year but failed to report to colleges. The students denied it. They vowed that they didn’t participate in counselling last year. This raised suspicion. KEA checked the status of seats opted by them and found out that someone else had used their

Public sector banks now safe, stable & healthy: Sitharaman

Public sector banks now safe, stable & healthy: Sitharaman 

Lok Sabha Passes Crucial Amendments To Banking Laws 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 04.12.2024

New Delhi : Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said public sector banks are now safe, stable, healthy, and showing “exceptional” performance, as the Lok Sabha passed crucial amendments to banking laws, which among other things provides for up to four nominees in all bank accounts. The move is meant to ensure that successors of an account-holder or someone with a fixed deposit are not locked out as is often the case. Depositors can opt for either simultaneous nomination, where nominees are assigned specific percentage shares, or successive nomination, where nominees inherit in a predefined order. In addition, the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, also seeks to redefine “substantial interest” for directorships, which could increase to ₹2 crore instead of the current limit of ₹5 lakh.

Among the 19 amendments is the plan to transfer unclaimed dividends, shares, and bond interests to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) for easier reclaim by rightful owners. “The proposed amendments will strengthen governance in the banking sector and enhance customer conve nience with respect to nomination and protection of investors,” Sitharaman said while moving the bill. Responding to the debate on the bill, she said the number of branches of scheduled commercial bank has increased to 1.6 lakh, at the end of S ept, compared to under 1.2 lakh in March 2014, with 3,792 branches added since Sept 2023. The bill also invited crit icism from opposition members. Samajwadi Party’s Rajeev Rai brought up the plight of borrowers facing credit issues due to poor communication from banks, while DMK’s Rani Srikumar questioned the  transparency of banking fees. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram spoke against the bill for not living up to the govt’s promise of “majestic reforms”. 

Patra’s remarks on Indira Gandhi trigger war of words in Lok Sabha 

New Delhi : BJP MP Sambit Patra’s remarks on former prime minister Indira Gandhi during the discussion on Banking Law (Amendment) Bill 2024 triggered a war of words between the treasury bench and opposition in the Lok Sabha, prompting the Speaker to urge the members to not digress from the topic. Participating in the debate on the Bill, Patra, recalling the Nagarwala scandal, said, “On May 24, 1971, Indira Gandhi called SBI’s Parliament Street branch manager and asked to release ₹60 lakhs immediately. A committee was set up that didn’t give any clearance to her. This is an iconic ‘phone banking example’.” DMK leader A Raja stood to raise his objection to the mention of the incident, saying it is a violation of Rule 94.

Notice to bank after employee held for ₹3cr fixed deposit theft

Notice to bank after employee held for ₹3cr fixed deposit theft

Is There No Accountability Of Any Bank When Money Siphoned Off: HC

Rosy.Sequeira@timesofindia.com 04.12.2024

Mumbai : Bombay high court on Tuesday issued a notice to HDFC Bank and banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after it was informed that police had arrested an employee of the bank who allegedly siphoned off ₹3 crore from a customer’s fixed deposits. “Ultimately, people trust a particular bank ... A relationship manager takes a person for a ride. What faith now will people... a person have in the banking system?” asked Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan. 

The petition by Meenakshi Kapuria, 53, stated that her relationship manager, Payal Kothari, 27, broke her ₹3 crore worth of FDs and transferred the amount to fictitious accounts and from there into her own accounts. She received no SMS or email alerts. On Mon day, her advocate Rizwan Siddiquee said Kothari gained Kapuria’s trust and took blank signed cheques from her, assuring the money would be transferred to mutual funds, gold bonds, new fund offers, among others, earning her more than FDs. He said Versova police are putting pressure on Kapuria to settle the matter with Kothari. Prosecutor Kranti Hiwrale said police froze Kothari’s bank accounts, which had ₹30,000 in all.

The judges directed zonal DCP Dikshit Gedam to remain present. On Tuesday, Hiwrale said Kothari was arrested “this morning”. “Why does an arrest have to be made only when a complainant comes to the court? And you’re (police) asking parties to settle the matter?” asked Justice Mohite-Dere. Gedam said one more person could be arrested immediately. He said the investigation is transferred from PI Amol Dhole to senior PI Gajanan Pawar. Asked about action against Dhole, Gedam said a departmental enquiry will be initiated against him for  dereliction of duty. 

The judges questioned why Kapuria didn’t receive alerts. Gedam said Kothari changed her mobile number and email address in the bank’s records, “and that is why when the transaction was happening, the victim was not getting any kind of alerts”. The judges said, “This is extremely serious.” They enquired if the police did an investigation with the bank. Justice Mohite-Dere asked, “Is there no accountability of any bank when money is siphoned off under their nose?” Considering the manner in which the petitioner was cheated,” the judges directed HDFC Bank’s senior manager of Lokhandwala branch or regional manager in charge of Mumbai to be impleaded as well as RBI. Posting the next matter on Dec 13, the judges said they also want to also know the amount in Kapuria’s account before and after the Oct 30 FIR was lodged.

Supreme Court chides govt for denying pension to wife of soldier who died on LoC

Supreme Court chides govt for denying pension to wife of soldier who died on LoC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesofindia.com 04.12.2024

New Delhi : A soldier, who was part of ‘Operation Rakshak’ and deployed near LoC in Jammu and Kashmir lost his life in extreme climactic conditions, while discharging his duty in the wee hours of a chilly January morning in 2013 but his widow was denied Liberalised Family Pension (LFP) despite getting order in her favour from armed forces tribunal in 2019 as the Centre moved Supreme Court and the litigation went on for five more years. 

Rejecting the plea of the Centre and defence ministry and ordering them to grant her LFP, apex court on Tuesday took strong exception of the govt for not taking a sympathetic view and dragging the widow in court for protracted legal proceedings to deny her rightful and imposed a cost of ₹50,000 to be given to her. LPF is given in case of death of an armed forces personnel under certain circumstances and eligible family is entitled to pension equal to reckonable emoluments last drawn.

 The govt denied LFP on the ground that it was a case of ‘physical casualty’ and not ‘battle casualty’ where LPF is granted to the family. After examining all the records and rules, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said the govt had wrongly denied her the pension as death happened as a result of war-like situations and it comes within the ambit of ‘Battle Casualties’. “Thus, the death can be attributed to illness caused by extreme climatic conditions. Hence, as per clause 1 (g) of Appendix ‘A’ of the Army Order 1 of 2003, the case will fall in ‘Battle Casualties’. The reason is that the deceased was operating near LoC in extreme cli matic conditions. He was part of Operation Rakshak and was on duty near LC. The casualty caused by illness due to climatic conditions is covered by clause 1 (g). In this case, the respondent’s husband was a victim of illness caused by extreme climatic conditions. Therefore, the case of the deceased will fall in the category of ‘Battle Casualties’, the bench said.. “In our view, the respondent ought not to have been dragged to this Court, and the decisionmaking authority of the appellants ought to have been sympathetic to the widow of a deceased soldier who died in harness.

Therefore, we propose to impose costs quantified as ₹50,000/-, which will be payable to the respondent,”. the bench said.

 87-year-old widow wins 58-year battle for pension dues Chandigarh:

Anguri Devi’s husband Nater Pal Singh of Rajput Regiment died in a landmine explosion on the western front during the 1965 war with Pakistan. Her battle for a long-overdue recognition of her husband’s sacrifice began soon after — and continued for 58 years, reports Ajay Sura. Though initially granted a special family pension, she was excluded from subsequent policy benefits, including the liberalised allowance introduced in 1972 and a 2001 amendment enhancing financial support for families of operational casualties. Restrictive cut-off dates and administrative lapses compounded her struggle. After nearly six decades of perseverance, the 87- year-old war widow finally received her rightful pension benefits — thanks to a landmark decision by the Punjab and Haryana high court. HC judgment, made available Monday, marks a bittersweet victory for Anguri Devi and serves as a powerful reminder of systemic delays in implementing policies meant to honour India’s war heroes and their families.