NEET: 38 students get breather from HC

They could not pay fee before deadline due to power outage

The Madras High Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to allow 38 aspiring medical students from Tamil Nadu, who could not pay the prescribed fee within the deadline due to poor internet connection and power outage, to appear for NEET UG 2017.

M. Mugunathan and 37 others, who were aspiring to pursue medical courses, approached internet centres in their respective districts to apply for NEET UG 2017.
Though they were successful till the stage of applying and getting the application registered, they were unsuccessful in completing the procedure by paying the required fees, as they faced problems in receiving the one-time password (OTP) to process the payment, and ultimately missed the deadline as there was no other way to pay the fee.

They said they had to wait till the last date, as they were expecting a policy announcement from the State government with regard to exemption from NEET, as was done the previous year.
When the pleas came up for hearing, Justice Puspha Sathyanarayana said, “The initiative taken by the CBSE to conduct the examination online is a laudable one. However, connectivity has to be addressed or provisions ought to have been made for an alternative method for situations like the present cases.”

The candidates concerned hail from various districts of Tamil Nadu.

Perennial problems
Low internet speed and power outages are perennial problems faced by many people, even those in metropolitan cities.

“Therefore, no mala fide can be imputed to these candidates, who could not remit the fees online in the absence of any alternative mode,” she added.
The judge then directed the CBSE to receive their fees through RTGS on or before May 2 and issue hall tickets.

Infosys to donate Rs. 80 cr. to cancer institute

Move marks one of the biggest philanthropic contributions

In one of the biggest philanthropic contributions to the public health sector in Karnataka, the Infosys Foundation is all set to donate Rs. 80 crore for construction of a new dharmashala (patients ambulatory home) and other development works in the State-run Kidwai Cancer Institute (KCI), Bengaluru.

Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty agreed to donate the funds for construction of a ground plus five-storeyed dharmashala building and renovation of the existing dharmashala facility on the KCI premises. The funds will also to be utilised for establishment of an operation theatre, and purchase of new equipment, KCI director K.B. Linge Gowda told The Hindu .
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will lay the foundation stone for the dharmashala in the presence of Ms. Murty.

The foundation will also contribute Rs. 6 crore for construction of a dharmashala at the institute’s satellite centre in Kalaburagi, which has been providing diagnostic and radiotherapy treatment. The foundation stone for the building will be laid on May 28.

“KCI needs more donations from philanthropists for catering to the needs of increasing number of patients every day,” Mr. Linge Gowda said. Founded on June 26, 1973, KCI, named after Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, India’s first Minister for Communications in the Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet and who donated 20 acres to the hospital, has been providing treatment to nearly 18,000 new patients and three lakh follow-up cases every year.

KCI needs more donations from philanthropists to cater to the needs of increasing number of patients

HC orders grace marks for 9 MBBS students

Chennai AGENCIES





The Madras high court has annulled a Pondicherry University rule doing away with the awarding of grace marks to MBBS students, and asked the University to give relief to nine students who had failed a practical examination. A division bench of justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and S Vimala struck down the new rule, which discontinued the practice of awarding the grace marks from May 2016, terming it “arbitrary and discriminatory“.
The bench gave its ruling on an appeal by the students against the February 15 verdict of a single-judge bench, which had turned down their pleas for the grace marks.

Accordingly , the bench asked the University's controller of examinations to revise examination results after awarding the grace marks. While rejecting the students' plea, the single judge bench had upheld the University's rule, doing away with the practice of awarding grace marks from May 2016.

In their appeals to the division bench against the single-judge bench ruling, the students had submitted that they had joined the MBBS course in 2012 and had appeared for the examinations of four subjects in December 2016. They cleared all subjects, but failed in a practical exam due to shortage of two to eight marks. They said when they had joined the course, the University regulations provided for the grace marks.





Govt doctors' body to go on strike

Chennai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





The Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association on Sunday said its members will continue to fast and called a strike on May 8, to ensure its demands objecting the quashing of inservice marks and 50% reservation in PG medical seats for government doctors are met. On April 30, the TNGDA's executive committee called an emergency meeting to discuss the after course since the Tamil Nadu government filed a writ petition objecting to the Madras high court's orders on this issue.

In a statement, the TNGDA said it will continue its daily fasting from May 2 till May 6 between 10am and 4pm. Besides, it called for mass casual leave for two days on May 5 and 6, wherein its members working in primary health centres, DMS and DME institutions will participate. “Only emergency and life saving activities will be unaffected and maintained,“ the association said.
The doctors will also march out in a procession from various districts towards Chennai in a “Chennai Selvom, Urimai Velvom“ campaign. A one day strike on May 8 has been listed as one of the measures to drive home their demands.

Junior doctors aspiring for PG seats have been asked to go on mass study leave for one year from May 10 by the association.

These students “had joined service on the assurance of the government for in-service marks and quota“, the statement said. A total boycott of all primary health centres in the state from May 2 till May 8 and halting elective surgeries and procedures in medical colleges and government hospitals across the state from May 3 are the other measures .

Madras univ gets tough, says no new colleges without GO

Siddharth Prabhakar

Chennai:





University of Madras has taken a strict view of attempts to start arts and science colleges in Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts without government permission.

In a report tabled at the syndicate meeting on April 21, the affiliation committee of the syndicate said 12 private educational agencies had applied to the university to start arts, science and MBA MCA colleges from the 201718 academic year. However, none of them had obtained the necessary Government Order (GO) that includes a no-objection certificate (NOC) and the syndicate declined permission.

A copy of the report, which is with TOI, says colleges have till May 15 to get the GO. This is part of continued action by the university as directed by the higher education department, a member of the committee said. “Flou ting all rules, colleges are started with minimum infrastructure and they come to syndicate for post-facto ratification, citing the fate of students. This is emotional blackmail,“ he said.

In January , the university levied a hefty penalty --amounting to the fee collected from students -on such colleges. In one case, the report shows, a Chennai-based college admitted 24 students in the 2016-17 year without the necessary permission. The Bachelor in Design (B.Des) course, to which they were admitted, was not even instituted by the university, it was found. The permission from the government was taken only in the middle of the academic year.
When the issue came up, the college's secretary pleaded with the university to transfer the B.Des students to the B.Sc (visual communication) course and allow them to write the exam, citing that their `future would be affected.' The syndicate allowed this, but penalised the college `10,000 per student.This sum cannot be collected from the students, the syndicate had earlier ruled in a similar case.

In the same report, the In the same report, the syndicate committee said that applications for affiliation for additional courses by colleges would be given only if they had shifted to permanent buildings on their own sites.

“Many colleges start a new course in one building in the first year, but later they move it to a distant locality .This causes inconvenience to the students,“ a syndicate member said.

Now, TN guv delays VC appointments

Julie Mariappan

Chennai:





Files Lie Idle, Process In 3 Varsities Stuck

After a prolonged delay caused by the state government and the search committees appointed by it, now it is the turn of the Tamil Nadu governor to sit on the files pertaining to appointment of vicechancellors to three premier universities University of Madras, Anna University and Madurai Kamaraj University .

 

Files relating to Madras and Anna varsities have been pending in Raj Bhavan for close to a month and that of Kamaraj varsity for a week. Incidentally , nine out of 13 varsities in the state do not have full time registrars and eight of them do not have controllers of examinations. “The ball is in the governor's court,“ a government official said. The posts of VCs have been lying vacant in the three varsities for more than a year.While the appointments of varsity heads were mired in controversies relating to payment of bribes in the past few years, the Raj Bhavan's inaction is not helping the varsities either. Incidentally , governor C Vidyasagar Rao, who is also chancellor of all state varsities, appointed SFelix as vice-chancellor of Tamil Nadu Fisheries University 10 days ago.

In the absence of VCs, the institutions are run by convener committees led by the higher education secretary . It is a fivemember panel in the Universi ty of Madras since April 21.
Because of the absence of a VC, the University of Madras put off annual convocations last year, affecting higher studies of students. There was an attempt in the university to hold convocation with degrees signed by the convener committee chairman, but it was dropped following objections.The institution, insiders say , faces its worst financial crisis and is plagued by irregularities as pointed out by the government's own local audit for the year 2015-16.

Much of the decision-making in the varsities involves research projects and degrees for which a board of research studies led by a VC is the backbone.“Now, all research related decisions are either pending or taken on ad hoc basis,“ Prof G Ravindran, general secretary of Madras University Teachers Association, said. The search panel of the University of Madras ­ comprising an ex-police officer, a full-time PhD scholar and a professor of a private University ­ came in for criticism as there is no eminent academician in it.

“There have been rumours about wheeling dealing, but I understand the governor has taken a fairly strong initiative to see that no underhand dealings take place. The main issue is to have the VCs fulfilling the UGC norms on qualification,“ Anna University former vice chancellor M Anandakrishnan said. Anna University Teachers' Association shot off a letter to the governor not to give a date for convocation, after the syndicate in March authorised the convener committee chairman to hold the event.

Madurai Kamaraj University does not have a full time registrar, controller of examinations and dean to run the administration. “Decisions are not taken properly . Elections to the senate and syndicate have not taken place for years,“ Save MKU Coalition co-convener P Vijayakumar said.

3K excess staff of Annamalai univ redeployed

Siddharth Prabhakar com

Chennai:





The 3,170 surplus teaching and non-teaching staff from Chidambaram-based Annamalai University will be redeployed in various government colleges and departments, including the Madras high court, said an order issued on Friday .

 

These staff will be appointed on an agreement basis for three years. Vacancies already reported to the Teachers Recruitment Board and Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and reserved for compassionate ground appointments will be excluded in the process, the order stated.
It was issued by higher education secretary Sunil Paliwal based on recommendations of the administrator of the university , which is under a severe financial burden due to years of mismanagement.The re-deployment is part of correction measures taken since the government took over the university in 2013.

About 211 lecturers and 40 physical education directors have been appointed in government polytechnics, 86 assistant professors in engineering colleges and 208 assistant professors in arts and science colleges. Besides, 2,635 non-teaching staff, including assistants, clerks, drivers and programmers, will go to the secretariat and other departments.
For instance, 500 staff have been allocated to the high court, 551 to state transport authority , 452 to the directorate of technical education and 367 to directorate of social welfare.
They will have to submit fitness certificates while joining. For professors, principals of the respective colleges will verify the genuineness of their qualifications.

The redeployment of 3,170 staff is the first phase of a project taken up after a government report identified 5,755 excess staff, including 1,031lecturers, professors and librarians. The government releases `40 crore every month just to pay staff salaries in the university .
A fortnight ago, state universities were directed not to fill any staff vacancies until the entire Annamalai University surplus was re-deployed.