Chennai Sep 30 PTI A verbal duel broke out between Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and security personnel at the airport here on Thursday over carrying laptops When Thiaga Rajan gave his bag for scanning to security staff at the domestic terminal they found that it had two laptops and allegedly questioned him for not disclosing that the bag has two laptops airport sources said The Minister apparently irked asked security personnel if two laptops cannot be carried at the same time They replied that in case of electronic devices and gadgets these should be given to them separately for scanning purpose Officials intervened and later Thiaga Rajan moved on with his laptops to board a flight to Tuticorin For a while the argument between them caused a flutter at the airport PTI COR VGN SS SS

Chennai Sep 29 PTI A special court here on Wednesday convicted AIADMK former Minister R Indira Kumari and her husband A Babu in a case of misappropriation of government funds to the tune of Rs 15 lakh and sentenced them to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment RI for five years each N Alicia the presiding officer of the Special Court for Hearing Cases Against MPs and MLAs awarded the sentence after finding them guilty of offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act PCA and imposed a fine of Rs 10000 each on them failing to pay which they have to undergo six months RI a CB-CID release said The CB-CID had probed the case Kumari had later joined the DMK in 2006 The couple was convicted for 120 B IPC criminal conspiracy and 409 IPC criminal breach of trust by public servant besides PCA it said The court also awarded three years imprisonment to retired IAS officer P Shanmugam and slapped a fine of Rs 10000 fine on him failing which he would have to undergo six months of Rigorous Imprisonment He had then served as the Director of Rehabilitation of the Disabled The court acquitted the ex-ministers former Personal Assistant PA R Venkatakrishnan Indira Kumari was the Social Welfare minister during the check period of 1991-96 in the late J Jayalalithaa-led cabinet Immediately on pronouncement of the sentence Kumari who was present in the court hall complained of breathing problems and was later admitted to the Government Royapettah Hospital here The charges against another IAS officer R Kirubakaran the then secretary of the Social Welfare department were abated since he died during the trial According to the prosecution the accused had connived with each other and misappropriated government funds of Rs 1545 lakh allotted for floating two trusts-- Mercy Mother India Charitable Trust for running a special school for hearing impaired children in the then North Arcot Ambedkar district and an institution for severely orthopedically handicapped children by another organisation Bharani Swathi Educational Trust here The accused committed criminal misconduct it was alleged The case was registered in 1997 a year after the DMK came to power in 1996 and the chargesheet was filed in 2004 PTI COR SA APR APR

Chennai Sep 28 PTI After over a year and a half physical classes for students from class 1 to 8 would resume in schools with effect from November 1 the Tamil Nadu government said on Tuesday Following a meeting chaired by Chief Minister M K Stalin at the Secretariat to review the ongoing measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic the government said the ban in respect of social political cultural and religious congregations would continue to be in place Places of worship would continue to be shut on Fridays Saturdays and Sundays an official release said In a relaxation the government said meetings at district collectorates every Monday to address public grievances would be allowed and every month similar gatherings to address farmers grievances shall be conducted Considering feedback from medical experts educationists and parents physical classes for children in all schools government-run state-aided and other boards as well would resume from November 1 the government said The classes shall be held by following the Standard Operating Procedures to prevent virus spread Stakeholders had opined that students faced stress and a gap in learning since they are confined to their homes since last year following the emergence of the pandemic the government said Students of class 9-12 resumed attending physical classes in schools from September 1 The government pointing to the upcoming festival season appealed to the people to avoid visiting places that may witness crowding Following COVID-19 guidelines alone could help prevent a third wave of the virus the government said and appealed to the people and commercial establishments as well to cooperate PTI VGN BN BN

Chennai Sep 28 PTI Nearly 15 tons of live unstable ordnance have been destroyed in controlled blasting exercises in two phases in nearby Tiruvallur District the Army said here on Tuesday The Armys bomb disposal team conducted a mammoth operation Operation Tiruvallur wherein approximately 15 tons of live unexploded ordnance alongwith iron and steel scrap were destroyed in two phases a Defence release said The destruction of about 10 tons of unexploded shells happened in March this year and during the third week of September the remaining five ton shells were destroyed The exercise was carried out at identified blasting sites in Gummidipoondi about 10 tons and Sholingur five tons in Tiruvallur District It involved the dangerous task of retrieving transporting and blasting these bombs in controlled blasts the release said The bomb disposal team of the Army cleared these unstable and dangerous munitions with skill precision and dexterity while also ensuring the safety of the local population in close coordination with the civil administration the release added PTI VGN BN BN

Chennai Sep 28 PTI The Madras High Court on Tuesday set aside a defamation case pending against Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan before a lower court in Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu Though the complaint had been filed under Section 199 read with 200 CrPC for an offence under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code punishment for defamation the Judicial Magistrate Court had issued summons under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act This clearly shows that the trial court has not adverted to the materials placed before it while taking cognizance of the case and the said act of the trial court in issuing a notice under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act for an offence alleged to have been committed under Section 500 IPC exhibits clear non-application of mind on its part and even on the very short ground the cognizance taken by the trial court transforming itself into CC No2122017 deserves to be quashed Justice M Dhandapani said The judge was allowing a criminal original petition from Soundararajan seeking to quash the case As the president of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier Soundararajan gave an interview to the electronic and print media in 2017 where she termed the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi VCK to which the complainant Dhadi Karthikeyan belonged to as a party which was conducting Kangaroo courts and grabbing lands from the public and uttered derogatory remarks against the party and its head TholThirumavalavan On the said averments a private complaint was filed by Karthikeyan invoking Section 199 read with 200 of the CrPC before the Judicial Magistrate in Kancheepuram which was entertained and taken on file by issuing summons to the petitioner Aggrieved Soundararajan filed the present petition to quash the case The judge pointed that sub-section 6 of Section 199 CrPC would come into play only when the statement alleged to have been made affected the right of the person against whom the offence was reportedly committed to make a complaint in respect of that offence before a Magistrate having jurisdiction or the power of such Magistrate to take cognizance of the offence upon such complaint However in the case on hand as contended by the petitioner the private complaint has been filed by Karthikeyan as a member of the political party against the statements alleged to have been made against the VCK and its leader However neither the person nor the party which was alleged to have been affected by the said statements had given any authorisation to him to file the complaint Karthikeyan on his own accord for reasons best known to him had thought it fit to file the private complaint Him being not affected by the alleged statement his action of invoking the offence us 500 IPC does not merit acceptance the court said Therefore the private complaint alleging defamation has no legs to stand on and the cognizance taken on the said complaint deserves to be quashed the judge said and accordingly set it aside PTI COR SA APR APR

Chennai Sep 28 PTI The Madras High Court has directed the Inspector General of Registration to instruct his subordinates to conduct inspections under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act and verify the genuinity of the registration and the activities carried on in the recreation clubs and societies and initiate appropriate action by following the procedures as contemplated under the provisions of the Act This exercise shall be done within 12 weeks If necessary a special team of officials are to be constituted to verify the registrations in respect of all these recreation Clubs and societies Justice S M Subramaniam said while disposing of a writ petition from a club in the city seeking to restrain the police from harassing its members As there were many police complaints alleging illegal activities against the club the judge rejected the plea and directed the police to go ahead with its probe After noticing that there were similar clubs and societies in the State indulging in unlawful activities the judge impleaded the Inspector General of Registration as a party in the case and issued a set of directions The judge said that while conducting inspections the jurisdictional authorities may collect further information from the jurisdictional police regarding registration of criminal cases if any Taking note of all these aspects appropriate actions are to be initiated for cancellation of registration if any illegality or irregularities are noticed The jurisdictional police authorities on registration of criminal cases against any such clubs and societies shall communicate the copy of the FIR to the jurisdictional district registrar of the said society for initiation of appropriate action under the provisions of the Societies Registration Act The DGP shall issue a circular directing the police authorities to communicate the copy of the FIR to the Registration department without causing any undue delay the judge added and posted the matter to October 22 for reporting compliance PTI CORR SA BN BN

Chennai Sep 28 PTI A division bench of the Madras High Court has upheld an interim order of a single judge allotting the Kolathur panchayat president post to ST general The bench of Justices S Vaidyanathan and A A Nakkiran upheld the interim order while dismissing a writ appeal from the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj department last week The writ appeal challenged the interim order dated September 15 passed by a single judge while entertaining a writ petition from P Baskar of Kolathur in Kancheepuram district in and by which he had stayed the operation of a GO of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj PR-1 department dated September 3 relating to allotment of Kolathur Panchayat President post to ST General Though the 2011 Census earmarked the Kolathur panchayat to SC a committee constituted by the government following a direction earlier from the High Court had held that the ST population outnumbered the SC And based on this the department issued the September 3 GO allotting the panchayat to ST Dismissing the appeal preferred by the department the bench said that when there is a mala fide exercise of power then there is no impediment for any court to interfere to curb such exercise so as to ensure that the interest of justice is met and justice rendered The reliance on Article 243 ZG of the Constitution has no relevance to the case on hand as the validity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies or the allotment of seats to such constituencies has not been called in question in this case The argument put forth by Advocate General R Shanmugasundaram that since there is no census available after 2011 the government had no other option but to arrive at a population figure and reservation of the post only based upon the census of the year 2011 cannot be accepted especially when the said submission was negatived by this court in its earlier order The argument appears to be that since the government does not have the correct list of voters of the locality they must be permitted to act on the incorrect one We are in the era of tech-savvy and it is easy for any government to conduct a survey of population within a short span of time if they are really interested in it the bench said and added that the interim order of the single judge is perfectly valid in the eye of law and does not warrant any interference by this court PTI CORR SA SS SS

Chennai Sep 28 PTI Public sector Indian Bank on Tuesday said it has become the official partner bank for the collection of offline and online treasury for the Integrated Financial and Human Resources Management System The Integrated Financial and Human Resources Management System is a portal developed by the government of Tamil Nadu to integrate human resources and finance related services providing a comprehensive management system Indian Bank said in a bank statement The public through the portal can avail government services related to Tamil Nadu treasuries and accounts chief auditor of statutory boards departments small savings pension co-operative audit and government data centre among many others at a click of a button The formal launch of acceptance of funds for IFHRMS through e-challan facility was held in the presence of Chief Minister M K Stalin and senior government officials and representatives of the bank on Monday the statement said I would like to thank the government of Tamil Nadu for selecting us as one of the two partner banks for their IFHRMS facility that has redefined how state matters of human resource management and finance are handled efficiently through both offline and online means Indian Bank executive director Imran Amin Siddiqui said We are honoured to be provided with this mandate and have taken this forward by integrating our proprietary V-Collect collection menu with IFHRMS to facilitate real time payment confirmation he said Indian Bank has a long-term vision of delivering excellence in financial services through customer focus employee engagement and sustainable business growth This payment partnership with the Government of Tamil Nadu is one of this vision leading to fruition on the bank of Indian Banks innovation in technology offerings providing value to all stakeholders the bank said PTI VIJ SS SS

Chennai Sep 27 PTI Tamil Nadu on Monday logged 1657 new Coronavirus positive cases maintaining its downward graph With this the infection count has touched 2658923 With 19 deaths due to the infection the death toll has now risen to 35509 On Sunday the State had recorded 1694 fresh COVID-19 cases According to a bulletin from the State health department with 1662 COVID-19 positive patients discharged following treatment today the cumulative recoveries stand at 2606153 The number of active cases including isolation as of today remain at 17261 Four districts especially Coimbatore with 189 new infections Chennai 186 Erode 117 and Chengalpattu 113 contributed to the maximum number of positive cases today While five districts saw new cases in single digits 29 districts reported fresh cases below 100 the bulletin said The States capital reported 3 deaths due to the infection on Monday taking the COVID-19 related fatalities to 8467 With 2058 active cases Chennais total cases have mounted to 549270 while the total recoveries including 208 today stand at 538745 Meanwhile Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said Tamil Nadu would go ahead with its fourth mega COVID-19 vaccination camp this Sunday if the Central government provides about 50 lakh vaccine doses He said efforts are on to obtain the required number of the vaccines to cover the beneficiaries Currently we have a stock of 3 lakh doses of Coronavirus vaccines Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has requested the Central government to provide about 50 lakh vaccines per week to sustain the momentum of inoculation Subramanian told reporters here The mega vaccination camps launched at about 40000 places throughout the State on September 12 had facilitated the vaccination of a record number of 2891 lakh persons Apart from giving the shots to 1643 lakh persons and another 2493 lakh persons respectively during the second and third camps the State is now gearing up for the fourth camp this Sunday the Minister said On complaints from some quarters that people were being forced to avail the shots Subramanian replied no one is being forced There was an overwhelming response from the people to all the three camps held so far leading to the State exceeding the target Anyway there is nothing wrong with that if it has been done the Minister said PTI JSP BN BN

Chennai Sep 27 PTI The Madras High Court has rejected a plea from the Dr S Ramadoss headed Pattali Makkal Katchi PMK to quash the proceedings initiated to recover the loss accrued to the government for not operating its bus services due to the political partys agitations in 2013 The writ petitioner has not established lack of jurisdiction or otherwise for the purpose of entertaining the writ petition Admittedly the notice of hearing is under challenge Thus the petitioner is at liberty to submit their objections explanations documents evidence etc for the purpose of defending their case by availing the opportunities to be provided Justice S M Subramanian said The judge was disposing of a writ petition from PMK president G K Mani last week to quash a June 17 2013 notice of the Additional Chief SecretaryCommissioner of Revenue Administration Revenue Department-Administration Disaster Management and Mitigation department directing him to appear for an enquiry and file a written statement in respect of the charge being made under the TN Property Prevention of Damage and Loss Act 1992 The notice claimed compensation from the petitioner for the revenue loss caused due to the non-operation and partial operation of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation Chennai buses in Chennai Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts during the agitation held by the petitioner party members from April 25 to May 19 2013 Rejecting the plea and disposing of the petition the judge noted that the present writ petition was pending for about six years Thus further delay would cause prejudice to either of the parties In these circumstances it is necessary that the enquiry must be conducted without any further delay the judge said and directed the official concerned to continue the enquiry by following the procedures as contemplated and by affording opportunity to the petitioner and complete the same in all respects take a decision and pass orders on merit and in accordance with the law within four months The petitioner shall co-operate for the early disposal of the enquiry proceedings by avoiding unnecessary adjournments Even in case of adjournment on genuine grounds the competent authority must record the reasons In the event of non co-operation on the part of the parties such non co-operation is to be recorded in the proceedings itself the judge said and directed the official to issue a circular to all the district Collectors and DSPs across the State to ensure immediate action in the event of any damage or loss to the property under the Act Failure if any should be viewed seriously and appropriate actions are to be initiated against the public authorities who all are responsible and accountable for their lapses negligence and dereliction of duties the judge added PTI COR SA APR APR