Corruption rampant in government, we are helpless in tackling it, says Madras HC

Corruption rampant in government, we are helpless in tackling it, says Madras HC

The petitioner’s mother Amutha applied for a government job on compassionate grounds in 2018.

Express News Service

Updated on:

11 Apr 2025, 8:52 am

CHENNAI: Stating that corruption has been rampant in every organ of the government, the Madras High Court said it is helpless in curbing the menace.

The remarks were made by a division bench of justices R Subramanian and G Arul Murugan recently while dealing with an appeal filed by G Gowdham of Cuddalore district in connection with a government job under the compassionate grounds scheme.

“We have to acknowledge that corruption is rampant in every organ of the government today. We should also acknowledge our helplessness in curbing the menace of corruption,” the bench said, referring to the National Highways department authorities directing the appellant’s mother to get three certificates afresh from the local authorities.

The petitioner is the son of Ganesan, who was employed as record clerk with the National Highways department, died while on duty on October 1, 2016. The petitioner’s mother Amutha applied for a government job on compassionate grounds in 2018.

However, in 2020, the authorities asked her to submit fresh certificates on income, the manner in which the monetary benefits obtained due to the death of her husband, a genuineness certificate on educational qualifications and a copy of the family card duly attested by the taluk supply officer.

After becoming a major, he submitted an application on November 19, 2022 and it was also rejected on the ground that the application was filed three years after death of his father and he should have attained 18 years at the time of applying for job on compassionate grounds.

He sent applications again in 2023 but they were also rejected. Challenging this rejection, he filed a writ petition.

The single judge, in an order on September 25, 2024, accepted the contentions of the authorities, yet, he ordered them to consider the application of the appellant’s mother as she was eligible.

While upholding the single judge’s order, the bench directed the authorities to offer the job to Amutha in commensuration with her qualification within four weeks.

RGUHS must train evaluators, provide key answers: Court

RGUHS must train evaluators, provide key answers: Court 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 12,04,2025

Bengaluru : The high court has said the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) is required to train its evaluators before assigning them evaluation work and also consider providing model/key answers to question papers. Justice Suraj Govindaraj recently made this observation while dismissing a petition filed by a postgraduate homeopathy student, challenging the evaluation of his answer scripts by five evaluators and also an ordinance on governing the evaluation process of the examinations for PG programmes, including diploma and superspeciality courses. 

The judge pointed out that thousands of petitions are coming up on discrepancies in the valuation on account of which students are being declared failed. “It is not only the number of litigations that has to be seen, but the number of lives which are dependent on such evaluation too, more particularly students in the younger age group whose confidence could be adversely affected if they are declared failed on account of improper evaluation. The impact of this on the psyche and the future of the student, on the family of the student, the society as a whole, as also on the college and the university need not be more emphasised,” the judge added. 

“While preparing the question paper, the model ans wers or key answers could also be prepared by the very same person who has set/ drafted the question paper. This would not cause any administrative strain on the university but would go a long way in addressing the difficulties faced by the students,” the judge suggested. In the case on hand, one Abhishek M Sutrave, a PG student in homeopathy, challenged the valuation of the first-year MD theory paper — Advanced teaching of fundamentals of homeopathy — saying there was a large variance in the marks awarded by the five valuators. As his representation on the disparity in marks was not considered, he approached the high court. According to him, he stood 36th in the all India entrance exam and obtained 86% marks in the practical exam. He contended that he should be declared passed by taking into account the marks awarded by the 5th evaluator in the repeat examination. The academic council of the RGUHS pleaded there are over 3,000 subject codes, and 10 question papers would have to be prepared for each. Thus, there would be about 30,000 question papers, and as many model answer scripts and key answers would have to be created per examination. 

As such, a policy decision was taken that model answers or key answers could not be provided. “This decision has been taken purely on the basis of administrative difficulties... The academic council has sought to negate its own responsibilities on the basis of administrative difficulties,” the judge added.

C’garh HC: Pension is earned property right, not a bounty

C’garh HC: Pension is earned property right, not a bounty 

Orders Govt To Refund Pension Deducted To Heirs Within 45 Days

Partha.Behera@timesofindia.com 11.04.2025

Raipur : State govt cannot take away any part of an employee’s pension, gratuity or leave encashment without a statutory provision ‘even under the guise of administrative instructions’, Chhattisgarh high court has ruled. 

The court quashed the govt order that permitted the recovery of over ₹9.2 lakh from the pension of a deceased govt employee, Rajkumar Gonekar, a resident of MP’s Chhindwara, and directed that the amount be refunded to his legal heirs within 45 days. “It is an accepted position that gratuity and pension are not bounties. An employee earns these benefits by dint of his long, continuous, faithful and unblemished service. 

It is thus a hard earned benefit which accrues to an employee and is in the nature of ‘property’,” Justice Bibhu Datta Guru said in a recent order. This right to property cannot be taken away without the due process of law as per the provisions of Article 300-A of Constitution of India, Justice Guru said. “It follows that the attempt of the appellant state govt to take away a part of pension or gratuity or even leave encashment without any statutory provision and under the umbrage of administrative instruction cannot be countenanced,” the order said. Gonekar’s counsel submitted to the court that he was appointed as assistant director on March 29, 1990, and later promoted to deputy director in 2000. However, due to certain corrections in the gradation list, he was demoted to assistant director. 

Following court orders, he served as deputy director and retired on Jan 31, 2018. During his service, Gonekar received a notice alleging misappropriation. In his response, he denied the allegations and asserted that he acted lawfully. After retire ment, a show-cause notice  was issued on Dec 13, 2018, and he submitted his response on Jan 25, 2019, again refuting the charges. 

The court noted that the order to recover ₹9.23 lakh from his pension was passed without properly considering these facts and without following due process. The state contested this and said procedure was followed, adding that govt granted permission to recover the amount only after receiving Gonekar’s reply. HC noted that the original petitioner, Gonekar, died on June 20, 2024, and his legal heirs were subsequently included in the petition. HC concluded that according to Rule 9, recovery from pension can only be ordered if the employee is found guilty in departmental or judicial proceedings.

Peon, an MA in Eng, checks Hindi answer sheets at college in MP

Peon, an MA in Eng, checks Hindi answer sheets at college in MP

Amarjeet.Singh@timesofindia.com 10.04.2025

Bhopal : Twice ‘outsourced’, the evaluation of answer sheets at a govt college in Madhya Pradesh’s Narmadapuram district allegedly ended up in the hands of a peon, triggering a scandal that led to the sacking of three staffers and suspension of the principal and a professor.

The peon, who has a master’s degree in English, evaluated the Hindi paper. The multi-stage blunder happened at Shaheed Bhagat Singh PG College in Piparia a few months ago and would have gone unnoticed but for a video that surfaced recently. 

The 20-second clip shows the peon checking answer sheets with all seriousness, making tick marks and jotting down marks. After the video swirled around on social media, local MLA Thakur Das Nagwanshi raised the issue in assembly. 

The higher education department set up a probe committee, which submitted its report on April 3. The very next day, principal Rakesh Kumar Verma and the nodal officer for evalua tion, professor Ramghulam Patel, were suspended. Verma alleged that he was being targeted by local politicians. The committee found a shocking casualness in the approach to exam evaluation. In its report, the panel stated that guest lecturer Khusboo Pagare, who teaches Hindi, has admitted in a written statement that she got the answer sheets evaluated by someone else as she was unwell. 

According to committee, Pagare paid ₹7,000 to ‘booklifter’ at the college, Rakesh Kumar Mehar, to evaluate the answer sheets. Mehar, in turn, handed it to peon Pannalal Patharia and gave him ₹5,000, pocketing ₹2,000, said the suspension order of the principal and nodal officer. Pagare, Mehar and Patharia were terminated.

WENT VIRAL: The multi-stage blunder happened at Shaheed Bhagat Singh PG College in Piparia a few months ago and would have gone unnoticed but for a video that surfaced recently

MEA notice on revised rules for passport changes

MEA notice on revised rules for passport changes 

Neha.Madaan@timesofindia.com  10.04.2025

Pune : Citizens can now add the name of their spouse to their passport without submitting a marriage certificate, thanks to the introduction of Annexure J option. 

A senior passport official said the new guidelines of ministry of external affairs (MEA) would significantly simplify the passport amendment process.

 “The joint photo declaration (Annexure J), signed by both husband and wife now serves as a valid alternative to the traditional marriage certificate requirement that many found difficult to fulfill,” Pune’s regional passport officer Arjun Deore told TOI. 

“Given that MEA is streamlining the documentary process, this change addresses a significant regional disparity. In Maharashtra, marriages are registered by default. But in northern states, many don’t register marriages and thus, don’t possess marriage certificates,” said another senior passport official. “So MEA has given the option of joint photo declaration as an alternative,” the official added.

Apex court issues notice on PIL questioning NAAC functioning

Apex court issues notice on PIL questioning NAAC functioning 

‘Working Is Marred By Corruption And Lack Of Transparency’

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesofindia.com 10.04.2025

New Delhi : Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to go deep into the functioning of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) which assesses and grades the higher education institutions in the country after it was alleged that its working is marred by corruption and lack of transparency and arbitrariness which is also reflected in CAG audit report and a case registered by CBI against its officials . 

Sensing that the allegations levelled in PIL was very serious which could affect higher education in the country, a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Joyamalya Bagchi said that it would examine the petition questioning the functioning of the council. 

Pleading for the court’s intervention, advocate Mohammad Shoeb Alam and advocate Manan Verma told the bench that the issue was very serious as the very credibility and fairness of the council’s working was questionable. 

The petition filed by NGO ‘Nostro Destino Foundation’, which works with Tihar jail prisoners to impart them education and help them in rehabilitation, requested the court to set up a committee to scrutinise and check assessments and gradings done by the Council of Higher Education Institutions in the last 5 years. 

Agreeing to hear the plea, the bench said “We want to go deep into the matter as to how they are functioning.” The petitioner submitted that the CAG audit done in March 2023 revealed glaring discrepancies in NAAC’s assessment processes and CBI recently in Feb registered a case against NAAC officials and certain educational institutions for accepting bribes in exchange for favorable accreditation scores.

The bribes reportedly included cash payments, gold, mobile phones and laptops highlighting the transactional nature of the accreditation process, it said. “After the allegations of corruption surfaced in the grading process in February, 2025, NAAC removed over 900 assessors without conducting re-assessments of the institutions evaluated by them. 

Further, NAAC arbitrarily initiated a re-DVV process (data validation and verification) after the first process ended for several insti tutions, reducing their previously awarded scores without affording any opportunity of hearing them. The 

 absence of transparency in the NAAC assessment process has led to widespread uncertainty regarding its credibility and fairness,” the petition said. The bench, after a brief hearing, issued notice to UGC, NAAC and Centre’s HRD ministry and sought their response. The petition said the assessment and grading done by NAAC not only affects the reputation of the institutions but also affects the quality of education being provided and the process followed by NAAC is violative of Article 14 and Article 21 of Constitution. It said arbitrary and non-uniform grading processes lead to discrimination among HEIs, as some institutions benefit from corrupt practices while others suffer due to a lack of transparency. “The opaque process of peer team selection and institutional assessments has led to inconsistent and unreliable grading,” the petition said. UNDER SCANNER: We want to go deep into the matter as to how they are functioning, said the SC agreeing to the plea

Technical glitch hits passport servers nationwide for 2 days

Technical glitch hits passport servers nationwide for 2 days 

DOWNTIME 

Creates Chaos At Key Centres, Appts Affected Neha.Madaan@timesofindia.com 10.04.2025

Pune : The technical glitch plaguing passport servers nationwide continued for a second day on Wednesday, with applicants across major cities expressing frustration as appointments continued to be cancelled or delayed. Regional Passport Offices (RPOs) in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, and other cities witnessed chaos as server issues that began Tuesday worsened, affecting numerous applicants who had scheduled appointments months in advance.

 “The server problem persisted even on Wednesday pan-India. We are trying to sort the issue as soon as possible, and everything should run smoothly soon,” a senior passport official said. “The PSK Pune-Ghorpadi office has not been operational since yesterday due to server issues. I had an appointment at 3.30pm but received no message or email informing me of any cancellation. I’ve been waiting since 12.30pm,” said Mahsku Phadtare, an applicant who urgently needed to travel abroad for work.

 “Officials are only giving one response: ‘Reschedule your appointment or visit Solapur PSK’. This is extremely difficult when I need to travel urgently for professional commitments.” The Mumbai RPO acknowledged the crisis on social media, posting: “Appointments for passport applications at all PSKs/POPSKs under RPO Mumbai are suspended till 1pm today (Wednesday) due to server issues. Affected applicants may reschedule the appointment to a further date.” It later added that applicants would receive an additional chance to reschedule if they had exhausted their three

allowed attempts. 

Parents of minor applicants have been particularly affected. Rahul Singhvi said on X: “My child missed school because of a scheduled passport appointment. It would have been really helpful if we had been informed earlier.” Pallav Kadhi, a businessman from Warje, told TOI, “We had been standing in extreme heat outside the passport office gate for hours Wednesday, and finally they told us to leave, stating: ‘All passport services were suspended for April 9. Additional chance for applicants to reschedule will be further communicated.’