Posts Tagged State government
State government could not take any unilateral decision on the plea by Nalini
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Court, Departments, Other, government on February 3rd, 2010
Tamilnadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said the State government could not take any unilateral decision on the plea by Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, for her premature release.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, ‘This is a major issue that has to be discussed at the national level. Therefore, we cannot unilaterally take a decision on it.’ He said the State government had appointed an advisory board to consider her plea and its report ‘is on its way.’
The Board was formed after a direction from the Madras High Court on 24 September, 2008, while partly allowing a petition by Nalini to consider her request.
Besides Nalini, imprisoned for the last 19 years, the Board has heard the pleas of two other convicts in the case, Jayakumar and Robert Payas, seeking their premature release.
Nalini moved the Madras High Court last week, seeking permission to argue in person in the appeal filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy against setting up of the board to consider her premature release.
Her request came in a telegram addressed to the Registrar General of the High Court, which has been referred to the Division Bench hearing Swamy’s appeal.
Nalini sent the three-line telegram to the HC registrar, saying, ‘I may be permitted to appear in person for the case.’ The matter was kept before a division bench, comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and N Paul Vasanthakumar, which adjourned the matter to 5 February.
Meanwhile, amid speculation and political uproar, the Prison Advisory Board (PAB), constituted by the State government in response to a plea of premature release made by Nalini, has sent its report to the Tamilnadu government.
This was disclosed by the District Collector C Rajendran, who heads the five-member PAB panel, on Tuesday.
Rajendran said the board, after going through the cases of Nalini and two of her associates, Robert Pyas and Jayakumar, also serving life sentences and eight other persons who had been in jail for over 14 years, had prepared individual reports based on a set of criteria, like their crime and punishment profiles and their conduct in prison.
While the details of the report are not known, the ball is now in the government’s court.
State government enacted a law to bring in a uniform system of school education
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Departments, Education, Information, government, programme, student on January 12th, 2010
The State government on Monday enacted a law to bring in a uniform system of school education, amid Opposition demands that the law be enacted only after the “loopholes” are plugged.
School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu made it clear that the government had framed the Bill keeping in mind the various Supreme Court rulings.
The law was historic since it was for the first time that private schools were being brought under the ambit of penalties if they contravened rules and regulations under the Act.
Pressing his cut motions, former Education Minister C.V.Shanmugham (AIADMK) said that a reading of the Bill indicated that it was drafted in undue haste. It had many provisions that seemed to placate the Matriculation stream schools, he said, adding that as much as 40 per cent of the syllabus favoured students learning in the English medium. He said Section 4 and Section 11 had serious anomalies and these had to be set right before the Bill was passed.
Section 4 says that “all the subjects, other than languages, may be taught in Tamil or English or in any other language as may be decided by a school with the approval of the competent authority.” Mr.Shanmugham said that this meant that the government was not serious about the two language formula; it was providing space for Hindi to be imposed on Tamils. Section 11 details the penalties “if any person wilfully contravenes the provisions of the Act or any rules.”
“He shall be punishable with fine which may extend up to Rs.25,000 and in the case of continuing contravention, with an additional fine which may extend up to Rs.1,000 for every day during which such contravention continues after conviction for the first such contravention.” Mr.Shanmugham criticised the punishment as “too light.”
C.Mahendran (CPI-M) pointed out that though the Muthukumaran Committee Report was tabled in the House, it was never debated. The recommendations of former IAS officer Vijayakumar on the implementation part were neither placed in the House nor were the members aware how many of his recommendations were accepted.
The Bill did not address the whole issue of social justice, its professed aim. There still was no definition for the term “school” – which explained the many make-shift shanties that doubled up as schools. The composition of the Board under the provisions of the Bill also left a lot to be desired.
G.K.Mani (PMK) said the PMK welcomed the concept but wanted the full the implementation of the Committee Report.
Mr.Thennnarsu said that there was no change in the policy laid down by the DMK. He recalled that Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, on January 1, 1968, had spoken at length about the need for a two-language formula – Tamil and English – and added that this remained the basis of all policies framed by the School Education department.
The criticism that the punishment was too light was baseless since this was the first time that the government had attempted anything of this nature,
Loans taken by the tsunami-affected fishermen owing mechanised boats, would be repaid by it and the banks
The Tamil Nadu Government today announced that the entire principal component of the loans taken by the tsunami-affected fishermen owing mechanised boats, would be repaid by it and the banks would waive the outstanding interest on these loans.
Delivering the customary address to the State Assembly, Governor Surjit Singh Barnala said this would incur an additional expenditure of Rs 80 crore to the State Government.
The Governor said after the DMK regime assumed office, various welfare measures were provided to the tsunami-affected fishermen at a cost of Rs 110 crore and the monthly provision of subsidised diesel had been increased from 1,000 litres to 1,500 litres.
Mr Barnala said the fishermen, who had lost their mechanised boats in tsunami and had taken loans from banks to buy new ones, had represented that they were unable to repay the loans and sought the Government’s assistance in this regard.
Accepting their request, the Government had formulated a scheme in consultation with the banks to remove the debt-burden of the fishermen owning mechanised boats and decided to repay the entire principal of the loans taken by them. ”The banks have agreed to waive the outstanding interest on theseloans,” Mr Barnala added.
Violence should play a pivotal role in resolving issues with a positive approach.
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Court, Culture, Other, Public, competition on January 4th, 2010
Protection Officers nominated by the state government under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act for conducting enquiries into cases of violence should play a pivotal role in resolving issues with a positive approach.
Most Indian women, despite preferring complaints, are not inclined to break their marital bondage. Protection Officers should exercise their responsibility carefully and arrange for additional sittings between affected persons and their spouses, observed Hemant Laxman Gokhale, Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
Inaugurating the day-long workshop on the Protection of Women under Domestic Violence Act 2005 organised jointly by the Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Board and the Women’s Integrated National Development Trust here on Sunday, Justice Gokhale said that Protection Officers should ascertain the gravity of the problem and take efforts to extend maximum assistance to the woman.
He said that violence incidents warranted case-specific orders such as grant of immediate maintenance, ‘residence order’ directing the in-laws or spouse to allot a separate room for a woman vacating house under duress. He also suggested that the orders for sanctioning subsistence allowance, normally sanctioned for industrial workers placed under suspension, could also be considered.
Justice Gokhale said that many families may not prefer to enter the portals of a court and the ambience of a court may not be conducive for the family members, especially those with children.
He hoped that the workshop, the second of its kind in the state, would address the issues in resolving the domestic violence-related cases to a great extent.
Justice G.M. Akbar Ali, Judge of the Madras High Court, said that the workshop with joint participation by all the stakeholders – the police, advocates, judicial officers and counsellors would go a long way in arriving at some clarification on procedures thereby ensuring an expeditious solution to domestic violence cases. Separate trainings organised for stakeholder did not yield the desired results due to various interpretation of the provisions of the Act. Early settlement of cases would keep the families in tact.
Justice B. Rajendran, Judge, Madras High Court, underlined the need for a co-ordinated effort by the stakeholders. Rokkiah Malik, Chairperson, State Social Welfare Board, said the Act had extended protection to women against domestic violence.
M.P. Nirmala Rani, Commissioner for Social Welfare, said that the state government has planned to nominate one Protection Officer for every court jurisdiction. She sought guidelines for appointment of Assistant Public Prosecutors for handling cases under these civil disputes which simultaneously involved criminal proceedings.
‘No chance of bifurcating of TN’
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Departments, Other, government, programme on December 14th, 2009
Tamilnadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi today ruled out bifurcation of the State, an oblique reference to PMK supremo Dr Ramadoss for making such a demand. ‘Neither the State government nor the DMK will support such demands’, he said.
Speaking after inspecting the construction work for a library being built to commemorate the centenary year of former Chief Minister C N Annadurai at Kotturpuram in Chennai, Karunanidhi said, ‘A series of violent attacks and protests in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh goes on to prove that one must not take decision at their leisure and follow it up with actions in haste’.
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He evaded a direct reply to a query whether he was dissatisfied at the way the whole Telengana issue was handled by the Union government.
It may be noted that Ramadoss had favoured the creation of smaller States for faster development. ‘Small is beautiful,’ he said, reiterating his decade-old demand for the bifurcation of Tamilnadu.
‘It will be better to bifurcate the State,’ he had told reporters here, affirming that his party was for splitting Tamilnadu. He had suggested the creation of a ‘South TN’, with Madurai as its capital, a decade ago. ‘When I floated the idea then, it was vehemently opposed. Now there will not be any opposition,’ he had said.
Karunanidhi’s reply that there is no room for bifurcation of Tamilnadu has set the ball rolling the State. Meanwhile, the political crisis in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue intensified with the number of MLAs resigning rising day after day.
To a question on AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa’s allegation that Karunanidhi had handled the vexatious Mullai Periyar and Cauvery water dispute in an effective manner, he said the people know the fact and are well-informed.
He said the library named after Annadurai would be completed and inaugurated in May 2010.
The State government. Sanctioning Rs. 17.15 crore for 17 developmental works in Kancheepuram
Posted by ganesh in Departments, Kancheepuram, Others, Transport, government on December 8th, 2009
The State government has issued an order, sanctioning Rs. 17.15 crore for 17 developmental works to be taken up in Kancheepuram town, the native place of former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai.
This follows the announcement of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the valedictory of the centenary celebration of the former Chief Minister in September.
Improvements to a stretch of the Singaperumalkoil-Arakkonam-Tiruvallur road for Rs. 3.7 crore; provision of a new park in Katchabeeswarar Nagar (Rs. 2.5 crore); construction of storm water drains and widening of the railway road (Rs. 4.2 crore); a flood protection wall in Manjalneer Channel at Okkapiranthan Kulam (Rs. 1.93 crore) and building a swimming pool and providing improvements to district sports stadium in Kancheepuram (Rs. 1.3 crore) are among the works approved by the government.
The order, issued by the Municipal Administration and Water Supply department on Saturday, assigned different works to different departments and local bodies. For instance, the Highways department is to carry out the improvement works to the Singaperumalkoil-Arakkonam-Tiruvallur road while it is the responsibility of the MAWS department to form a park at Katchabeeswarar Nagar in the temple town. The order stated that all the works should be taken up immediately and completed by April.
Panel for Classical Tamil meet formed
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Communication, Departments, Information Technology (IT), function, government, programme on December 4th, 2009
The State government on Thursday constituted the main committee for World Classical Tamil conference and the committees for Tamil Internet conference to be held along with the event and another panel for preparing the souvenir for the mega event.
The main committee which has the powers to approve the programme schedules and give advice on various issues would be headed by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. Finance Minister K Anbazhagan, Deputy CM M K Stalin, Professor V C Kulandaisamy and Tamil scholar Iravatham Mahadevan would be vice-presidents.
The Tamil Internet conference to be held in association with Uthamam, an Information Technology Forum, would be managed by a panel headed by Prof M Anandakrishnan. While IT Minister Poongothai will be the organiser, IT Secretary P W C Davidar will be the coordinator. Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi and four others would be the members of the panel.
HC appoints retired Judge as liquidator of defunct cooperative bank
Posted by ganesh in Madurai, Others, government on November 24th, 2009
The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday sought to know from the State Government whether it could spare the services of a Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies exclusively for the purpose of acting as an official liquidator of the defunct Madurai Urban Cooperative Bank.
A Division Bench comprising Justice D. Murugesan and Justice S. Nagamuthu directed a Special Government Pleader to obtain the response of the Government by Wednesday. The judges said that they would be constrained to appoint a retired district judge as liquidator if the Government does not give a positive reply.
Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed jointly by 10 depositors who had invested Rs.45,78,991 in the bank, the Bench asked the counsel representing various parties to submit a panel of retired district judges, residing in Madurai, along with their consent to take up the assignment.
The petitioners’ counsel F. Deepak stated that totally 30,576 people had made deposits to the tune of Rs.51.61 crore in the Cooperative Bank before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled its licence in January 2005 on charges of embezzlement of funds. He claimed that there was an inordinate delay in repayment of the money deposited.
The judges felt that appointment of a Deputy Registrar as a liquidator on temporary basis and assigning the job to him as an additional responsibility apart from his regular work was the reason for the delay. They were also not satisfied with a recent order passed by the Cooperative Department appointing a sub-registrar as the liquidator.
“When even a Deputy Registrar was not able to collect the amount from the borrowers, how a sub-registrar will be able to do the job?” Mr. Justice Nagamuthu wondered. “We can ask our Principal District Judge here to take up the assignment. But it might hinder his regular judicial work,” Mr. Justice Murugesan added.
Indian Bank bagged five State awards from the State government
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, function, government on November 19th, 2009
M.S. Prabhakaran (right), receiving the best performance award for SHG lending by the state government from Collector V.K. Shanmugam (second left).
Indian Bank bagged five State awards from the State government for its contribution towards lending revolving fund and loans to the Self Help Groups during 2008-09.
The awards were given to the respective branches by the Deputy Chief Minister Stalin at a function held in Chennai on November 16, said Mr. Anup Sankar Bhattacharya at Denkanikottai on Tuesday.
Mr. Bhattacharya this could be achieved only by the cooperation of the bank officers and employees and the confidence shown by the customers towards the Bank.
He said in the individual category Usilampatti in Theni district bagged the first place, second place went to Pulikarai branch in Dharmapuri district and third place shared by Mathur and Kaveripattinam branches in Krishnagiri district (both under the Dharmapuri Circle) and the fourth and fifth place went to two microstate branches in Chennai.
He said that the bank got the prestigious Golden Peacock award from an international institution for its best banking practice recently. Benefits of financial inclusion should reach the nook and corner of every village, he added.
M.S. Prabhakaran, former Branch Manager, Mathur Branch received the award from the Collector V.K. Shanmugam at the “AGRI PLUS 2009.”
Court wants to know whether SC/ST Rules are implemented in full
Posted by ganesh in Madurai, government on November 17th, 2009
The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday sought to know from the State Government whether it had constituted a high power State level committee supplemented by district and divisional level committees for assisting the Government in implementing the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
Hearing a public interest litigation petition related to Uthapuram near here, a Division Bench of Justices D. Murugesan and S. Nagamuthu said that it was mandatory to constitute such committees under Rule 3 of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995.
They directed the Additional Advocate General S. Ramasamy to file a counter affidavit by November 25 detailing the steps taken so far to implement the Rule.“There cannot be a second opinion that a provision of law should be implemented. I shall verify with the Government and file a counter specifying the status of each of the 11 requirements to be fulfilled under Rule 3,” the AAG said. Clause (vii) of Rule 3 states that every State Government should also constitute vigilance and monitoring committees to suggest effective measures to implement the Act.
The Rule basically requires the State Governments to identify areas where it had reasons to believe that atrocities might take place or there were apprehensions of reoccurrence of offences against the Dalits.
After such identification, the District Magistrate or Superintendent of Police or any other officer concerned should be ordered to visit the areas and review the law and order situation.
Clause (iv) of the Rule empowered officials to seize illegal fire arms besides prohibiting illegal manufacture of such arms in the identified area. “If necessary, the State Government shall cancel the arms licences of the persons, not being member of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, their near relations, servants or employees and family friends and get such arms deposited in the Government armoury,” the Rule read. Another clause authorised the officials to issue arms licences to the Dalits, if necessary, in order to ensure their safety.
Financial assistance
The Government was required to encourage and provide financial assistance to non governmental organisations (NGOs) to set up awareness centres besides organising workshops to educate the Dalits about their rights and the protection available to them under Central as well as State enactments.
The Rule also mandated the State Governments to review by the end of every quarter, the law and order situation in the identified area, the functioning of different committees constituted for the purpose, the performance of Special Public Prosecutors, Investigating Officers and others officers responsible for implementing the Act and conducting criminal cases registered under the Act.
In the instant case, All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) had filed the PIL petition seeking a direction to the State to implement the Rule in the backdrop of long pending animosity between Dalits and Caste Hindus of Uthapuram. During the course of the arguments, Mr. Justice Murugesan said: “The Rule has to be implemented not only in this particular place, but throughout the State.”
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