Chennai Mar 30 PTI The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to ascertain and inform it as to whether the TN Governor had forwarded the 2018 state cabinet recommendations on release of all the seven convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination to the President or selectively in respect of A G Perarivalan alone The first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy gave a direction to this effect orally when Nalini Sriharans petition seeking the court to order her release even without the consent of the Governor came up for further hearing today Nalini is one of the seven convicts in the case the others being Murugan Santhan A G Perarivalan Robert Payas Ravichandran and Jayakumar The bench also wondered again as to how the High Court can entertain Nalinis plea This is so especially when her earlier pleas seeking a direction to the Governor to countersign the Cabinets recommendation were rejected repeatedly the bench added The previous AIADMK cabinet had in September 2018 passed a resolution and forwarded its recommendation to the then Governor Banwarilal Purohit to order the premature release of all the seven life convicts under 161 of the Constitution As there was nothing forthcoming from the Governors end Nalini and others had filed several petitions in the High Court for a direction to the Governor to consider their plea But no such order was passed and all the petitions had failed Finally Nalini filed the present writ petition praying the court to order her release even without the consent of the Governor Meanwhile the Supreme Court had granted bail to Perarivalan Hence Nalini prayed the High Court to apply the same yardstick adopted and grant her similar relief However the bench had said that the Apex Court is the supreme judicial body and that the High Court cannot decide on this issue on its own When the matter came up today the bench sought the clarification and adjourned the matter by a week PTI CORR SA SA

Chennai Mar 28 PTI The first bench of the Madras High Court on Monday directed the authorities concerned to remove the encroachments on the water bodies in nearby MelmaruvathurKeelmaruvathur and file a report in this connection in a month The bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy gave the direction while passing further interim orders on a PIL petition from one R Raja of Sothupakkam today Raja had alleged Keelmaruvathur lake and an abutting pond which were once used by farmers for irrigation had disappeared in the last seven years due to encroachments in the forms of houses shops pay-and-use toilets and parking lots After repeated complaints to the revenue officials about encroachers polluting the groundwater by discharging sewage that went unattended he moved the court in 2018 PTI CORR SA SA

Chennai Mar 19 PTI The Madras High Court has slammed a public interest litigant for treating it as a post office in a petition regarding certain recommendations made by the CIC over postal stamps on RTI applications Petitioner S P Muthuraman had moved the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court praying for a direction to the Union government to give effect to one of the recommendations of the Central Information Commission CIC made in August 2013 to permit affixation of postal stamps on the RTI applications in addition to Indian postal orders or demand drafts The first bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy on Saturday noted that it was only a recommendation and not a direction The petitioner without finding out as to what action was taken by the appropriate authority on the CICs recommendation has moved the High Court by way of this PIL It noted that the petitioner wants the court to conduct a roving and fishing enquiry as to what steps were taken by the respondents based on the CICs recommendation The High Court cannot act as a post office to collect and exchange information This is more so when even according to the petitioner the CIC has only made recommendations that cannot by any stretch of imagination be taken as a statute so as to give effect to it The authorities concerned would have to decide what action should be taken based on the CICs recommendation the bench said In view of the above we do not find any case for grant of relief prayed for by the petitioner The writ petition fails and the same is dismissed the bench added PTI COR HDA HDA

Chennai Mar 19 PTI Holding that a rural area cannot be one close to the City the first bench of the Madras High Court has rejected an appeal from a doctor seeking incentive marks for admission in a post-graduate course on the ground that he was working in a government hospital in a rural area The first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy clarified that the incentive marks have been provided to promote the medical services in certain areas which include difficult location in hills plains remote and rural areas Rural area can not be an area close to the city and in this case the Medical College and Hospital where the appellant was working is located within the radius of 10 kms from the city area ie the district headquarters of Tiruvarur If the benefit of the rural area is given to a practitioner serving in the medical college and hospital close to the city the very purpose of granting incentive marks to serve in the rural area would be defeated The purpose to grant incentive marks is to encourage practitioners to serve in rural areas and not the areas which are close to the city or urban areas Therefore keeping in mind the object sought to be achieved for grant of incentive marks the Selection Committee has made a recommendation adverse to the Medical College and Hospital in which the writ appellant is serving the bench said and dismissed the appeal from Dr R Arunkumar recently Originally Arunkumar filed a writ petition challenging a communication dated December 3 last year of the Selection Committee of the Directorate of Medical Education denying incentive marks to him pursuant to a GO dated March 6 2019 His prayer was to include the Government Tiruvarur Medical College and Hospital located in Thandalai village panchayat under rural area for award of incentive marks to him As a single judge rejected his plea he preferred the present writ appeal We do not find that a case is made out for grant of incentive marks Rather it is meant for practitioners who are practising in the rural areas which are away from the urban areas In the light of the aforesaid we do not find a ground to cause interference in the order passed by the single judge the bench said and dismissed the appeal PTI CORR SA SA

Chennai Feb 21 PTI The Madras High Court on Monday refused to restrain the authorities concerned from counting the votes polled in the elections held on February 19 for the Coimbatore Corporation along with other urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu Counting of votes is scheduled for Tuesday The first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy which rejected the interim plea however said the election of the successful candidates would be subject to the outcome of a PIL petition which sought to cancel the elections and to hold them afresh The bench was entertaining a petition from V Eswaran founder of Marumalarchi Makkal Iyakkam who prayed for a direction to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission TNSEC and the authority in Coimbatore to cancel the election held for the Corporation and form a committee headed by a judge of the High Court to probe alleged incidents of rampant distribution of cash to voters by considering his representation and to hold it afresh Originally the petitioner had moved the local authorities to permit him to campaign against bribing the voters but it was rejected by them on February 7 He moved the High Court and the first bench last week had directed the authorities to consider his plea He was granted permission only on February 16 and left with just one day to campaign In his present petition Easwaran alleged that there was large-scale bribing of voters All the political parties in the race distributed cash and freebies to the voters If the counting is allowed to be done on Tuesday and the result declared dishonest people who had mocked the democratic process would come to power In such circumstances unless the same is restrained the residents of our Corporation would be put into irreparable loss and hardships he contended and sought to restrain the authorities from counting the votes polled and declaring the results which was turned down by the bench today The matter is adjourned for two weeks PTI COR SA ROH ROH

Puducherry (Puducherry) [India], December 29 (ANI): Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered a ban on liquor sale in Puducherry from 10 pm on December 31 till 1 am on January 1.