Health minister’s ex-aide booked for cheating man
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:25.04.2019

The directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption on Monday registered a case against a former office assistant of health minister C Vijayabaskar five years after it was revealed that he cheated a man, promising him a job at the TNEB.

A case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act against V Chandrasekaran, who is at present employed at the agriculture department. Complainant G Senthil Kumar said Chnadrasekaran had collected ₹13 lakh from him, promising to get him a job as an assistant engineer in the TNEB.

Chandrasekaran used his association with Vijayabaskar, under whom he was working in 2013, to influence the complainant. The accused claimed that he had spoken to the then personal assistant of the electricity minister about the job, adding that he had given the money to the official for the same.

As Kumar never landed the job, his father Gunasekaran told him to retrieve the money. Only after a complaint was lodged at Selaiyur police station, Chandrasekharan returned ₹5 lakh. When inquired, the EB minister’s then PA said he had never seen Chandrasekaran let alone spoken to him. During inquiry, the accused admitted to the crime.

Metrowater is likely to provide bulk supply soon

Oppili.P@timesgroup.com

Chennai:25.04.2019

Flooded with requests for water tankers, Metrowater has proposed to agree to bulk supply, particularly to large housing complexes/gated communities, and is also looking into the possibility of allowing its tankers to operate till early morning.

At an emergency meeting convened by Metrowater on Wednesday evening at its headquarters in Chintadripet, a participant said the agency was currently concentrating on small households with capacity to store 6,000 litres, 9,000 litres and12,000 litres of water, resulting in a majority of gated communities, software companies and private colleges on Old Mahabalipuram Road turning to private tanker operators. To lure them away for peivate operators who charge exorbitant rates, Metrowater and plans to provide residents with the large quantities they want at a nominal cost.

With regard to the request for extending the timings of tankers, now operated from 5.30am to 11pm, the authorities asked the contractors if it would be feasible as it would require adding one more driver to their fleet. “The Metrowater authorities wanted two drivers for each vehicle on contract with the agency, so that it will reduce driver fatigue, which in turn will help avoid accidents,” the participant said.

The authorities also warned that stern action would be initiated against anyone supplying Metrowater to individuals and hotels, in violation of the rules. Declaring that they planned to take seriously the violation, which affects those genuinely in need of water, the authorities said they cancel the work order of the offender (contractor) concerned, they warned, added the participant. Such complaints of diversion of water have been swamping Metrowater helplines, with residents saying they were being deprived of water for no fault of theirs.

IN HIGH DEMAND

HC vacates TikTok ban, but red-flags its content

VIOLATIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA ANGER COURTS IN TAMIL NADU

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Madurai:25.04.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Wednesday vacated its April 3 interim order prohibiting downloading of video sharing app TikTok after the Chinese company submitted that it has moderating mechanisms in place to regulate obscene content and it is only an intermediary platform, which does not upload content.

A division bench of justices N Kirubakaran and S S Sundar warned that if the regulatory mechanisms were not found to be effective as stated by the company, it would be charged with contempt of court.

Senior counsel Isaac Mohanlal representing TikTok argued that the company followed all laid-down standards and had better privacy provisions than other social media platforms.

When senior counsel said TikTok had not violated any laws, the court said it is because we don’t have any laws to address the issues concerning social media platforms and cited instances where Parliament took several years to pass legislation.

The court also took note of submissions by amicus curiae Arvind Datar who said that banning the app, which is only an intermediary website, cannot be the solution and cited previous judgments of the Supreme Court and the guidelines of the Information Technology Act.

Courts should be the last resort, says Datar

“An intermediary shall not be liable for any data not uploaded by them. There is no obligation on their part for pre-censorship,” said senior counsel citing Supreme Court judgments.

The amicus curiae also said that he met with he officials of the ministry of electronics and information technology and, so far, the Union government had blocked 14,220 websites between 2010 and 2018 and that this was the first case in the country on an intermediary website.

Datar said any person with a grievance against an intermediary website should first approach the grievance official of the company and then the authorities and the courts only as a last resort. “What is statutorily legal cannot be judicially impermissible,” Datar said.

The court, however expressed concern that there was no statutory protection for children and asked whether the Union of India would enact a statute like the Children Online Privacy Protection Act, enacted by the United States, to prevent children from becoming cyber victims.

On April 3, the court had issued an interim direction to the Centre to prohibit downloading of TikTok mobile app.

The court observed that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through the app. The court directions were in response to a petition which sought a ban on the app stating that it encouraged disturbing content and degraded culture.

The court asked whether the government would enact a statute like the Children Online Privacy Protection Act, enacted by the US, to prevent children from becoming cyber victims

TIMELY ACTION

Morphing of girl’s FB pic: Man gets 3-yr jail

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Trichy:25.04.2019

A mahila court in Trichy on Wednesday sentenced a 22-year-old youth to three years imprisonment for threatening a minor girl by posting her morphed photo on Facebook. It also handed out another threeyear jail term for intimidation and assault with intent to outrage her modesty.

The court also ordered the convict, S Ajithkumar, to pay a fine of ₹5,000 failing which he should undergo six months of additional jail term.

Special public prosecutor R Ventatesan said Ajithkumar, a construction worker, had proposed to the 17-year-old girl who was his neighbour.

Though the girl rejected his proposal, Ajithkumar continued to pursue her.

Since the girl was unrelenting, he downloaded her picture from her WhatsApp profile and morphed it with his picture, and posted the morphed photograph on the social media site.

The girl’s elder brother, who confronted Ajithkumar for denigrating his sister, was abused and threatened of dire

consequences. The convict also refused to remove the picture from the site.

Based on a complaint lodged by the girl, the Golden Rock all-woman police took up the investigation and arrested Ajithkumar, on September 26 last year. He was later released on bail pending trial.

SC seeks help of CBI, IB, cops to probe role of ‘fixers’ in judiciary

‘System Will Not Survive If Charges Are True’

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:25.04.2019

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought the assistance of top investigating and intelligence agencies to probe a “set of fixers” in the judiciary who allegedly seek to manipulate judicial proceedings and have been accused of conspiring with a corporate figure to frame the Chief Justice of India in a sexual harassment case.

The court took a serious view of the allegations after it was informed that two SC staff members who were recently sacked for altering an order in the industrialist Anil Ambani contempt case, acted in league with the dismissed woman employee who has accused CJI Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment.

Keen to swiftly settle the controversy arising out of a lawyer’s sensational claim that there is a “cash-for-judgment club” operating in Delhi to influence court proceedings, a special bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta called the heads of the CBI, the Intelligence Bureau and Delhi Police for in-camera consultations. The bench justified the decision stressing that allegations made by lawyer Utsav Bains that he was offered a bribe of ₹1.5 crore by a person named Ajay to frame CJI Ranjan Gogoi in a false case of sexual harassment and three dismissed SC employees ganging up with “fixers” was very serious.

“He says fixing game is going on in SC. It is a matter of grave concern for the system. Fixing has no place in the system. He has named a fixer and we want to go to the root of the matter. Fixers have to be booked. We need to find out who are these fixers. We will inquire and inquire and inquire and take it to the logical conclusion,” the bench said.

Our responsibility to keep this institution clean & ensure image is not tarnished: SC

Asking the chiefs of the CBI, IB and Delhi Police to reach the apex court for urgent consultations, the bench said, “We and this system will not survive if the allegations are true. We have to find out the truth at all levels. Can we keep our eyes shut? The entire country will lose faith in the system.”

The three top officers who met the judges were asked to “seize the relevant material” in order to support the contents of the affidavit furnished by Utsav Bains. “Considering the seriousness of the allegations as the system has absolutely no place for such fixers, we cannot leave the matter at that. It becomes our responsibility to keep this institution clean as well as to ensure that the image of this institution is not tarnished by such allegations to undertake the probe in the matter,” the court said in its order.

In the course of proceedings, senior advocate Indira Jaising contended that any probe into roles of fixers and a larger conspiracy should not hamper the in-house probe against the CJI on the sexual harassment complaint. The bench made it clear that in-house proceedings will go on but a separate investigation was needed on the larger conspiracy and role of fixers.

The lawyer contended that an attempt was made by a corporate figure to influence an SC judge to deliver a favourable order, failing which he sought to get the case moved to another court. Both attempts failed, Bains said, quoting what he said was information from a reliable source. The attempt to dislodge the CJI followed this incident, he claimed.

After their meeting with the officers of agencies they had called, the bench assembled again to hear submissions on an affidavit filed by Bains who alleged that the sexual harassment charge against the CJI by a dismissed court staffer was part of a larger conspiracy involving a corporate figure who, along with members of a “fixers club”, has tried to frame the CJI to pressure him to resign. He also placed materials and evidence in a sealed envelope before the bench to substantiate his allegations.

The lawyer said he had some additional information and evidence but expressed reluctance to place some of the privileged communication before the bench. The bench, however, said it is of the prima facie opinion that the lawyer could not claim privilege in the present case involving conspiracy of a serious nature. The court asked attorney general K K Venugopal to assist the court on the issue.

Full report on www.toi.in

In an affidavit, the lawyer alleged that CJI Ranjan Gogoi was being targeted because he took decisive steps to insulate the judiciary from fixers

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