Madras High Court directs transport corporations to pay retired staff by April 14

By Express News Service | Published: 29th March 2018 02:46 AM |


Madras High Court (File photo)

CHENNAI: A division bench of the Madras High Court has directed various transport corporations in the State to disburse the balance interest portion of Rs 394.69 crore to their retired employees before April 14.

A bench of Justices S Manikumar and M Govindarajan, which gave the directive on Wednesday, made it clear that no more extension of time will be granted.

Passing final orders on a batch of PILs, the bench said that since the demand of the workmen employed in the eight transport corporations to review their wages by applying the multiple factor of 2.57, instead of 2.44, had already been conferred with the benefits in terms of the settlement dated January 1 last, their plea is not at all justified and deserves to be negatived.

As the claimants had already been conferred with the benefits in terms of the January 1 settlement, which factually works out to equally applying the factor 2.57, no further benefit or claims is to be conferred on the workmen, the bench added and closed the PILs.

Are you sure you want to delete Facebook?

By Express News Service | Published: 28th March 2018 10:23 PM |



A 3D-printed Facebook dislike button is seen in front the Facebook logo. (Photo | Reuters)

CHENNAI: The recent privacy breach in the most-used social media platform, Facebook, has put the world on edge. Companies and individuals alike are campaigning to quit the platform, but is the world really ready to bid goodbye to check-ins, memories and memes? We ask the city’s college youth, is Chennai ready for #DeleteFacebook?

Kanishk Sanjay, 20, SRM University

Facebook gave way to various economic opportunities, provided a platform for artists and freelancers. A a new wing in business — social media marketing — started because of it. Life without Facebook would mean life without any social networking. Though I don’t use Facebook, life would be really different without it.

Shashank Jacob,
21, SRM University
Facebook is more of a nostalgic entity to me — those moments of ‘fame’ when my profile picture crossed a 100 likes, or when my first crush accepted my friend request. Now, I don’t use it frequently. Life without Facebook would just mean one less way for me to seek approval from people whose approval I don’t need.

Srijanani Sridhar,
20, Rajalakshmi Engineering College
Facebook has increased virtual conversation, which I’m not very happy about. But, it also serves as a source of news. Being an engineering student I rarely get to read the newspaper and I get my news through Facebook. I use Facebook twice or thrice a day, so, without it, it will be difficult for me to get updated on various activities.

Niveditha Hari,
19, JBAS College for Women
Initially, Facebook was a cool way to connect with friends. And then it became the new source for books, movies, politics, etc. I used to check the app at least 5-6 times a day, but now I’ve uninstalled it.Life without Facebook would be positive — no whining about people having fun, no checking the app all the time, which keeps you away from the phone as well.

Nishanth Vatchalam,
21, SRM University
Facebook now means connecting with your family members abroad. It’s not used as much as earlier thanks to Instagram, Snapchat. Life without Facebook would mean that social outreach would not be as strong, and communicating less with your acquaintances you don’t meet often.

Ancila Jaison,
20, Stella Maris
Facebook is a social media platform where I post stuff after so much of filtration. Since it’s a widely used app, it’s impossible to post certain things as your dad, mom, aunty, uncle, granddad, grandmom, neighbors etc. will be watching you. I don’t use it often, these days. Life without Facebook would be better because I wouldn’t keep getting notifications and reminders about my past every now and then.

Priyadarshini,
21, SRM University
There was a time I was always on Facebook. I stopped using it because it filled me with a lot of information I didn’t need. Now, I don’t use it at all. So, life would be the same without it for me. It might even be better. It’s based on the usage that one benefits, but when the line is crossed, it turns into an addiction.

Rajat Baxla,
19, National Institute of Technology
Facebook, is a platform that allows me to connect with people and the memories I share with them. My usage of Facebook is minimal because I feel there are apps that are way faster and easier to access than Facebook. But without Facebook, I would most definitely not remember events that had taken place 6-7 years back; I’d hate to lose all those memories, good or bad.

Ananya Naresh,
20, Sri Venkateswara College Of Engineering
Facebook is memes according to me. I spend time on Facebook when I’m happy, sad, bored,etc. I’m on FB about 20 times a day. Life without FB would be empty and dark. Where else would I go if there’s no one around and I’m feeling lonely?

Fidha Sherin A,
23, MOP Vaishnav College
Facebook is the face of our generation, a mad race to catch up with selfies, check-ins and ‘reactions’. It’s the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing before bed. It’s become a staple for us, and life without Facebook would just become ordinary.

Bhavna Bhavanishankar, 20
I joined Facebook to play the interactive restaurant games, and managing pet panda with my friends — I loved it. I used Facebook frequently until a year ago. These days, I login just to scroll through my feed. Life without Facebook would’ve been difficult to imagine a few years ago. But now, I think it’ll be great because we’ll be forced to have face-to-face interactions.

Akshay Thyagarajan,
21, SSN College of Engineering
I realised it was easier to talk to people on Facebook. I also stumbled across different kinds of music. Before deactivating my account recently, I used to check Facebook twice a day. I seem to miss Facebook the least. I don’t feel the need to fiddle with my phone whenever I’m bored.

Swarna Surya,
21, MOP Vaishnav College
Facebook helps to keep in touch with people. I used it often, but it’s been five months since I logged in. Life is peaceful, without the urge to ‘like’ a picture, or see where our friend’s sister works. The need to know things about someone, just because we’re Facebook friends, reduce.

Kiran M,
18, Rajalakshmi School of Architecture
When Facebook was new, it helped in socialising with friends, old and new. If you didn’t have an account, you were labelled as ‘boring’. I have always been an introvert. Facebook helped me get out of my shell, at least virtually. Without Facebook, my life would certainly be different, because it has made it better in many ways.

Creamy layer for OBCs, not SC/STs: Centre to top court

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com 29.03.2018

New Delhi: The Supreme Court entertained a public interest litigation on Wednesday and asked the Centre a question which no political party is willing to touch with abargepole — should creamy layer exclusion criteria be applied in the grant of 22.5% reservation in government jobs to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes?

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A M Khanwilkar asked the Centre, represented by additional solicitor general P S Narasimha, to file its response within four weeks and posted the matter for final hearing in the second week of July.

This poses an unenviable task for the NDA government, already under pressure from almost all parties to file a petition in the SC seeking review of its recent judgment that barred police from arresting a person accused of committing an offence under the SC and ST (Prevention of) Atrocities Act. Earlier, any offence under the Act was non-bailable, meaning thereby that police had no option but to arrest a person accused of insulting a dalit or tribal.

The SC in November 1992, in the Indra Sawhney judgment, had upheld the Centre’s decision to accept Mandal Commission recommendations and grant 27% quota in jobs to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), but stipulated exclusion of creamy layer to weed out the rich among OBCs from cornering the quota.

In 2006, a Constitution bench of the SC in M Nagaraj case had said that the amendment inserting sub-clause 4A into Article 16 to enable the government make provisions for reservation in promotions based on ground reality must be dependent on ‘backwardness’ of the section of population, their inadequacy in representation in service and thirdly, that such reservation did not impede the ‘overall efficiency’ of governance.

Making M Nagraj judgment as the base, a PIL filed by Samata Andolan Samiti pleaded through advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan that non-exclusion of creamy layer from SCs/STs has defeated the purpose behind the social welfare measure as a select few families have for generations cornered the quota, meaning that “almost the entire community remains deprived”.

“One of the primary measures to check this is to exclude the ‘creamy layer’ — the judicially crafted remedy in Indira Sawhney case which aimed to ensure that only the truly backwards in all communities would avail the benefit of reservation,” the petitioner NGO said.

ASG Narasimha said creamy layer was applicable to the reservation for OBCs, which was brought through a law. “This cannot apply to the reservation (for SCs and STs) made through Presidential Order under Article 341of the Constitution,” he said.

Passenger molests crew member, may be 1st on no-fly list

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  29.03.2018

New Delhi: A 62-year-old Pune resident, arrested last Saturday for allegedly harassing a Vistara cabin crew member, may become the first person that an airline recommends for inclusion in the no-fly list (NFL), a penal listing of unruly fliers announced by the civil aviation ministry six months ago.

Vistara said it had reported the matter to the police on the cabin crew member’s complaint and would wait for the investigation to conclude, on the basis of which it would decide whether to name the Pune passenger for NFL.

According to Sanjay Bhatia, DCP (IGI), on March 24, when a Lucknow-Delhi flight landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, the passenger touched the cabin crew member inappropriately while exiting the plane.

“He may have tried this even before alighting. She alerted her seniors immediately and then filed an FIR on the same day,” said Bhatia.A case under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code dealing with sexual harassment was registered before the man was freed on bail.

The offence is punishable with a maximum imprisonment of three years and a fine. Under the civil aviation ministry’s guidelines, a person on NFL may be grounded from three months to a lifetime for “unruly physical gestures”.

A spokesman for the airline, corroborating the March 24 incident, elaborated, “Vistara does not tolerate abusive or unruly behaviour by passengers that puts the safety of its staff and other customers at risk, or compromises their dignity. We have reported the matter to the police and other relevant authorities. An FIR is registered and investigation is on. We are fully committed to providing our cooperation to all the authorities.”

The spokesman added, “For NFL, we will wait for the investigation to conclude, basis which we will decide the next course.”

The procedure for invoking the NFL clause requires the pilot in command or captain of the plane on which the unruly behaviour took place to file a complaint with the airline.

The carrier concerned will set up an internal committee to examine the complaint and decide the matter in 30 days, during which the accused passenger could be banned from flying on the airline. 

Cabinet junks bridge course proposal for Ayush doctors

DurgeshNandan.Jha@timesgroup.com 29.03.2018

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to remove the provision of a bridge course in the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill. The provision had sought to enable practitioners of alternative medicine to practice modern medicine to a limitedextent todeal with acute shortage of doctors in rural areas — which didn’t go well with allopathic practitioners and the Indian Medical Association had on Sunday threatened to launch indefinite strike across the country if the order was not withdrawn. On Wednesday, a released issued by the government, said the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modihas approvedcertain official amendments to the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill.

“The provision dealing with the bridge course for Ayush practitioners to practice modern medicine to a limited extent has alsobeen removed. Ithas been lefttothestate governments to take necessary measures for addressing and promoting primary health care in rural areas,” itstated.

The NMC Bill, 2017, which seeks to replace the existing apex medical education regulator, the Medical Council of India (MCI), with a new body, was moved by the government in Parliament on December 29.

Following opposition from the medical fraternity over different provisions of the proposed legislation, one of which was the ‘bridge course’, the bill was referred to the parliamentary standing committee. Officials said the amendment to the NMC Bill comes in the backdrop of the recommendations made by the standing committee in its report tabled in the house on March 20 and general feedback, particularly the views of medical students and practitioners regarding certain provisions of thebill.

In its report, the committee had said that the bridge courseshould notbe a mandatory provision under the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill. “The committee feels that every state has its own specific healthcare issues and challenges. The committee, therefore, recommends that the state governments may implement measures to enhance the capacity of existing healthcare professionals, including Ayush practitioners, BSc (Nursing), BDS, BPharma and others to address their specific primary healthcare issues in rural areas,” itsaid. 


HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES

Darshan point must be equal for all: HC
Plea Claims Trichy Temple Lets VVIPs Get Closer To Deity

Saravanan.L1@timesgroup.com 29.03.2018

Madurai: The Madras high court’s Madurai bench on Wednesday said the darshan point in temples should be equal for all devotees and stressed that there should not be any disparity.

The court made the remarks after being told that devotees coming in queue to have free darshan at Trichy’s Samayapuram Mariamman temple are made to worship the deity from a distance, while VVIPs and those who pay money are allowed to get closer to the deity.

Trichy-based advocate Pon Murugesan filed a public interest litigation. When it came up for hearing before the division bench headed by chief justice Indira Banerjee, the petitioner’s counsel told the bench that the Hindu religious and charitable endowment (HR&CE) department is denying equal rights to devotees coming to the temple. It discriminates against devotees on the basis of economic conditions. This is against the Indian Constitution, the counsel said.

The temple authorities maintain three different queues for devotees to worship the main deity, Mariamman. They allow politically and economically influential people very close to the deity and also allow them to sit there for a longer time. Next to them is the paid darshan queue and those forming it are also allowed to worship the deity at close quarters for a limited time. But, it is not the case for devotees forming the free darshan queue. Besides, the temple staff also urge them to move faster.

The Supreme Court in a case involving Siva Thanu Chettiar held that the constitutional scheme of things does not permit any citizens to believe that economic affordability could be a tool to divide the citizenry for darshan in a public temple.

Some citizens are given the privilege of proximate or speedy darshan and others who can’t afford it have distant darshan on the basis of economic considerations, which is an affront to the equality before law as enshrined under the Constitution, the counsel said.

Seeking to permit all devotees in one queue to worship the deity, the petitioner sent a representation to HR&CE officials on March 19, but there was no action on it, the counsel said. 


POLITICS OF WORSHIP: The temple authorities maintain three different queues for devotees to worship the main deity, Mariamman. They allow politically and economically influential people very close to the deity and also allow them to sit there for a longer time

Class XII eco & Class X maths exams to be held again: CBSE 
 
Question Papers Were Leaked, Admits Board

Krittika.Sharma@timesgroup.com 29.03.2018

New Delhi: Within 90 minutes of the end of CBSE’s Class X maths exam on Wednesday, the board declared that students will have to sit for a retest following reports of the question paper having been leaked. Re-test will also be held for the Class XII economics paper, which was also allegedly leaked and reported by TOI.

Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said the leaks could be the handiwork of an organised gang and assured students that the ministry will take strict action. He also promised to provide a more secure mechanism to carry out the exams. It is learnt that the PM Narendra Modi spoke to Javadekar, expressing concern over the leaks.

The maths paper leak was an embarrassment to CBSE, as the Class X board exams were being held after eight years.


CBSE chief too got copy of leaked paper

A copy of the leaked Class X maths paper was delivered at the CBSE chairperson’s office on Tuesday, raising questions whether the board should have acted to scrap the paper before the examination got under way. The incident is being seen as either a “catch-me-if-you-can” dare by the gang suspected to be behind the paper leak or an anonymous act by someone in possession of the leaked paper.

Question papers of other subjects were also leaked, say sources

The maths paper leak was an embarrassment to CBSE, as the Class X board exams were being held after eight years. Sources said the board was apprised of “another” probable leak on Tuesday nightitself.

A CBSE statement said the board had taken cognizance of “certain happenings in the conduct of certain examinations”. It decided to re-conduct Class X maths and Class XII economics papers to “uphold sanctity of the board and in the interest of fairnesstothestudents.”

“Dates for fresh examinations and other details shall be hosted on the CBSE website within a week,” read the exam notice.

While TOI received a handwritten version of the Class XII economics paper on the day of the exam (Monday), the leaked maths paper (alsohandwritten) was sent to this reporter on Tuesday night itself. It was received at 9.10pm.

TOI had earlier reported that it had access to a handwritten paper, allegedto match with Set1of theCBSE economics paper that the students had sat for on Monday. The Class X maths paper too had been circulated widely in teacher and student groups, with some children in Bihar and Abu Dhabi also claiming that they had accessto the “leaked” paper.

However, this was not the only version of theleaked paper doing the rounds. Students TOI spoke to had scans of a printed exam paper that they claimed had been sent to them on Tuesday night. Students said many questions from the “leaked” exam paper figured in the actual Class X maths paper.

The handwriting in the leaked maths paper sent to TOI was different from what has been sent in thecaseof economics and biology.

A similar allegation of paper leak was made during the Class XII accountancy exam, which was also acknowledged by Delhi deputy chief minister, who ordered an inquiry intothe matter. However, CBSE had denied that any leak took place, claiming that “all seals were intact at thecentres”.

Yet, it reportedthe matter to Delhi police and a probe was orderedin the matter.

Sources claimed that question papers of several other subjects had also been leaked during this year’s CBSE exams.

Significantly, the retest for thetwo exams has been notified for all CBSE schools — across India and abroad. According to CBSE spokesman Rama Sharma, this year all papers that we sent across Delhi, India and abroad had thesame setof questions. Thiswas a break from the norm, wherein four different groups of papers are made for Delhi, rest of India, schools outside India, and one for reserve. However, according to sources, sincethe paper was thesame for all students, the damage is also large-scale.

Officials in the PR department of theboard saidthat they have no idea how far the leaks have spread, especially withthe borderless access WhatsApp provides. However, they added that only these two papers will be cancelled “because we had credibleinformation that itwas apossibleleak,” said an official.

Meanwhile, Delhi police’s crime branchhas questioned25 people, including the printers of the question papers, owners of coaching institutes, security guards and members of criminal gangs that were earlier involved in cloning question papers. Raids were being conducted at 10 different places till late Wednesday night.

This is not the first time CBSE exam papers have been leaked. In 2006, police uncovered the leaked CBSE question paper of businessstudies, while it was searching for suspects connected with the Varanasi bomb blasts.

In 2011, three people — Krishnan Raju (principal of government senior secondary school at Lapati, Car Nicobar), Rashid (executive engineer of the Andamans PWD), and Vijayan (a forest ranger) — were arrested on charges of leaking the question papers of the ongoing CBSE exams. The question papers included those of Class XII science and mathematics.