Chennai:

The Madras High Court on Thursday said the report of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority (TNSLSA) relating to the alleged sexual abuse of girls at a fake National Cadet Corps (NCC) camp in the state’s Krishnagiri district was “shocking”.

The first bench comprising Acting Chief Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice PB Balaji made the observation while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Advocate AP Suryaprakasam, seeking to transfer the investigation into the incident from Krishnagiri police to the CBI.

After perusing the report, the court said the TNSLSA in its report stated that one of the instructors present in the two-day fake NCC camp showed weapons (guns) and threatened the students not to reveal anything about the incident to anyone. The main accused, Sivaraman, who is now dead, threatened students that he would cut off their little fingers if said anything. All of this happened inside the premises of a school, Moreover. the organisers conducted a campfire inside the school on two occasions, mingled with the students and Sivaraman moved freely with them, the bench added.

The bench had directed the TNSLSA to visit the school, interact with the students, parents and the teachers, besides the school management. The authority filed a report after that.

Earlier, Additional Advocate General J Ravindran submitted that as per the directive of the court, the government had issued a show-cause notice to the school and since the reply was not satisfactory, the Krishnagiri District Educational Officer has recommended that the Director of Private Schools appoint a Special Officer to administer the school. The officer will be appointed in a week or two, he added.

He said an interim compensation was also paid to the survivors through a Fast Track Mahila Court.

Advocate General PS Raman said the accused, Sivaraman, died by suicide after consuming rat poison. The school principal and correspondent had been arrested earlier. Show-cause notices will be issued to three schools where such fake NCC camps were conducted and action will be taken, he added.

AP Suryaprakasam submitted that whether Sivaraman committed suicide or not should be thoroughly investigated. The students should be given free medical treatment in a private hospital and an “ex-gratia” amount should be given to the girls, he added.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on September 19. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Lucknow:

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday said that a NEET aspirant who had alleged in her petition that the National Testing Agency failed to declare her result and that her OMR answersheet was found torn had submitted forged documents and the NTA can take legal action in the matter.

This came after the National Testing Agency, on the direction of the high court’s Lucknow bench, produced before it the original OMR answer sheet of the student which was found to be intact.

The student, Ayushi Patel, in her petition, claimed that NTA sent her a communication saying her result would not be declared as her OMR sheet was found torn. She had also posted a video on social media repeating the allegations that caused a stir amid the ongoing row over claims of irregularities in the conduct of the undergraduate medical entrance exam NEET.

The petitioner had demanded that her OMR sheet be evaluated manually. She had also called for an inquiry against NTA and demanded that the counselling for admission be stopped.

A vacation bench of Justice Rajesh Singh had, on June 12, asked the NTA to produce the original records of the student.

In compliance with the order, NTA’s Deputy Director Sandeep Sharma presented the original documents of the student along with an affidavit.

After seeing the documents, the court found that the student had filed the petition on the basis of forged documents. The court termed it regrettable and said that the NTA is free to take legal action in the matter.

At the same time, the advocate of the petitioner requested permission to withdraw the petition, which the court accepted.

The NTA told the court that the decision to take legal action against the petitioner student had already been taken by it.

The court said that the petitioner has submitted forged documents, and in such a situation it cannot stop NTA from taking legal action against the student.

Reacting to Ms Patel’s video, which was shared by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi among others, the NTA had said on June 12 that her paper is still intact and it is a case of forgery on the part of the candidate, whose actual score is lower than claimed.

“No torn OMR answer sheet was sent from any official NTA email, and the actual OMR is available and not torn. Moreover, all results are available online,” said an official.

The NTA had countered the claims of the incorrect result on social media stating, “Regarding the viral video featuring Ms Ayushi Patel, claiming discrepancies in NEET (UG) 2024 scoring and receiving of torn OMR answer sheet, NTA clarifies that no torn answer sheet was sent via an official NTA ID. OMR answer sheet is intact and scores are accurate as per official records…”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Delhi government has “come to a standstill” after the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the High Court said today while hearing a petition on the state of education in schools run by the city civic body. A Chief Minster’s post in a buzzing capital like Delhi is not ceremonial and it is post where the office holder has to be available 24×7. His absence cannot deprive children of their free text books, writing material and uniforms, the court said.

“National interest and public interest demands that no person who holds this post is incommunicado or absent for a long stretch or for an uncertain period time,” said the bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.

The court held that the admission of Delhi’s Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj — that any increase in financial power of MCD commissioner shall require approval of Mr Kejriwal – amounts to an admission that “Delhi government has come to a standstill” after the Chief Minister’s arrest.

The petition had maintained that nearly two lakh students lacked basic amenities at the beginning of the academic year due to administrative hurdles.

During the hearing on April 26, the High Court came down heavily on Mr Kejriwal, the Delhi government and the civic body for their failure to provide textbooks. Mr Kejriwal’s insistence on holding the post even after his arrest in the Delhi liquor policy case puts political interest over national interest, the judges had said.

Following the rebuke, the office of the Lieutenant Governor had accused the AAP-led Delhi government and Saurabh Bharadwaj of delaying the approval of a proposal to temporarily enhance the financial powers of the MCD Commissioner from Rs 5 crore to Rs 50 crore.

Officials argued that the delay has hampered some crucial projects linked to education, health, and sanitation, as the Standing Committee of the Corporation has not been constituted for over a year.

New Delhi:

Twenty-eight years after a man applied for a job in the postal department, the Supreme Court has ordered his appointment noting that there was an error in holding him ineligible for the post. Ankur Gupta had applied for the post of postal assistant in 1995. After being selected for pre-induction training, he was later excluded from the merit list on the ground that he completed intermediate education from the “vocational stream”.

Gupta along with other unsuccessful candidates moved the Central Administrative Tribunal which ruled in their favour in 1999. The postal department challenged the tribunal’s order and approached the Allahabad High Court in 2000. The high court dismissed the petition in 2017 and upheld the CAT’s order. A review was filed in the high court which was also dismissed in 2021, following which the department approached the Supreme Court.

In the top court, a bench of justices Bela M Trivedi and Dipankar Datta said a candidate cannot claim a vested right to appointment, once he is included in the merit list, he has a limited right of being accorded a fair treatment. “However, if the candidature is not rejected at the threshold and the candidate is allowed to participate in the selection process and ultimately his name figures in the merit list though such candidate has no indefeasible right to claim appointment, he does have a limited right of being accorded fair and non-discriminatory treatment,” the bench said.

The Supreme Court said the employer, if it is a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution, would have no authority to act in an arbitrary manner and throw the candidate out without rhyme or reason. “The employer-State being bound by Article 14 of the Constitution, the law places an obligation, nay duty, on such an employer to provide some justification by way of reason,” it said. The bench said if the department had declared Gupta as ineligible based on the appreciation of the educational qualification at the threshold, the situation would have entirely been different. “However, it was not at the threshold that the third respondent was considered ineligible. “As the factual narrative would reveal, the appellant had considered the third respondent eligible, allowed him to take part in the various tests in connection with the selection process, interviewed him, placed his name quite high in the merit list, and thereafter sent him for 15 days’ pre-induction training starting from 15th March, 1996,” it said.

Invoking its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution, the top court directed that Gupta be offered appointment, initially on probation, on a post of Postal Assistant (for which he was selected) within a month and if no post is vacant, a supernumerary post shall be created for him.

It said Gupta has been discriminated against and arbitrarily deprived of fruit of selection.

“Subject to satisfactory completion of the period of probation, the third respondent shall be confirmed in service; Should service rendered during probation be considered not satisfactory, the appellant will be entitled to proceed in accordance with law.

“Having not actually worked, the third respondent (Gupta) shall neither be entitled to arrears of salary nor shall he be entitled to claim seniority from the date of appointment of other candidates who participated in the recruitment process of 1995,” it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Punjab government and its police were at the receiving end of sharp rebuke from the Punjab and Haryana High Court today over “non-action in the drug menace facing the state.  Pointing out that the police personnel seldom turn up to give statement as witnesses, the court said, “It is clearly visible that there is collusion between the drug mafia and the police”.

“When the government witnesses, who are police personnel, are not appearing for years to testify, then suspicion will definitely be raised against the police,” the judges said.

As the state police chief appeared in the court in drug-related case, the High Court reprimanded him as well as the state government.

“Punjab is a border state and also very sensitive. Despite this, the government and police have failed and have broken the trust of our entire country,” the judges said.

“We are continuously seeing that the government is not taking any action. It seems that the police are in collusion with the drug mafia. Your DGP is completely ineffective and so is the government,” the judges said, demanding that the police chief first “apologize and then take immediate action”.

The government, the judges said, should not give any assurance to the High Court. “Show it by doing something,” the judges said.

The government should first put its house in order, the judges added, and gave a time frame on how action will be taken.

Lucknow/Amethi:

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Wednesday stayed the Uttar Pradesh government’s order suspending the licence of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Amethi.

A division bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manish Kumar said that inquiry against the hospital would go on. The bench also asked the state government to file its counter affidavit.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital administration against the government’s order.

On September 18, the health department suspended the licence of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Munshiganj area of Amethi and halted OPD and emergency services, days after the death of a woman patient following an operation.

The hospital is run by Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Trust (SGMT) headed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

Manoj Muttu, administrator of the trust, told PTI that a copy of the court’s order will be submitted to the chief medical officer of Amethi and as per the CMO’s directions functioning of the hospital will resume.

However, Muttu said he would like the hospital to resume functioning from Thursday.

On September 27, over 400 employees of the hospital sat on a dharna against the suspension of its licence. Local Congress leaders also staged a protest outside the CMO’s office.

The woman patient, Divya (22) who was admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital on September 14, went into a coma during a surgery. Her family members alleged that she was kept at the hospital for more than 30 hours before being referred to Lucknow where she died on September 16.

The next day, an FIR of causing death by negligence was registered against four employees of the hospital, including its chief executive officer.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)