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VOL: 2 ISSUE 61March 25, 2009
New Delhi, March 25
The Supreme Court todaydeclined to pass status quoorder as demanded by twosenior IPS officers againstthem on March 18, as theywere at the helm of affairson February 19 whenChennai police stormedMadras High Courtpremises.The police onFebruary 19 brutallylathicharged and damagedthe vehicles, chambers oflawyers, court rooms andassaulted some of the HighCourt judges.A benchcomprising Chief JusticeK G Balakrishnan andJustices J M Panchal andA K Ganguly fixed April 6for hearing of the petitionfiled by Mr A KVishwanathan, who wasAdditionalCommissioner, Chennaiat that time and MrRamasubramani, whowas posted as JointCommissioner on the dayof occurrence.A three-judgebench of the High Courthad directed the stategovernment on March 18to place the two officersunder suspension,following which TamilNadu lawyers called offtheir indefinite strike andresumed work.Senior counselShanti Bhusan appearingfor the two police officerscontended before thecourt that the two policeofficers have beendirected to be suspendedby the High Court underpressure from the BarAssociation in the statedespite the findingrecorded by formerSupreme Court judgeJustice B N Srikrishnathat no action can betaken against any of thepolice officer under thesecircumstances.FormerAdditional SolicitorGeneral Vikas Singhappeared for anotherpolice officer.A battery ofsenior lawyers led by LNaageshwar Rao and MN Krishnamani stronglyopposed the plea forstatus quo as raised byMr Shanti Bhushan andinformed the court thatthe state government hastill date not complied withthe directions of the HighCourt and neither of thetwo petitioners have beensuspended till date.The apex courtalso declined to pass anyorder on the plea of thepetitioners as well asstate government statingthat no contempt noticeshould be issued to thestate government for notcomplying with thedirections of the HighCourt.The Court told thepetitioners, ''let us see thereaction of the stategovernment.'' TheSupreme Court, however,issued notices to state ofTamil Nadu, State ChiefSecretary, State HomeSecretary, DGP and TamilNadu High CourtAdvocates Association onthe petition filed by the twosenior officers against theirsuspension ordered by theHigh Court.
Chennai, March 25:
India has urged Sri Lankato fulfill its commitments tothe Tamil population therewith proper devolution ofpowers to the provinces,according to PrimeMinister ManmohanSingh.In a letter toTamil Nadu ChiefMinister and DMKPresident MKarunanidhi, copiesof which werereleased to the mediahere today, Dr Singhsaid India also askedSri Lanka to fulfill itscommitment ofensuring equality andequal rights for Tamils asis the case of othercitizens of Sri Lanka.''Sri LankanPresident MahindaRajapakse has veryrecently reaffirmed hiscommitment to adevolution package,which, he said, will fullysatisfy the Tamils,'' headded.Mr Rajapaksehad also said steps in thisdirection were beingtaken immediately.''We may waitand see what steps areactually taken,'' Dr Singhsaid in his reply to theFebruary 22 letter writtenby the Chief Minister.The PrimeMinister said,''duringdiscussionswith SriLanka, wehaveconsistentlyproposedtemporarycessation ofhostilities,which couldbe utilised tofacilitatemovement ofthe Tamilpopulationout of the waraffectedareas tosafety zones,where properrehabilitationfacilities couldbe arranged.''Observing thecondition ofthousands of innocentTamils who becomeunfortunate victims ofthe on-going conflict wasindeed pitiable, thePrime Minister said inaddition thousands ofothers outside the warzone lived in makeshiftcamps, where, too, theconditions were hardly anybetter.Stating India wasin constant touch withLankan authorities, DrSingh said contacts werebeing maintained atseveral levels, includingthe highest.India's ForeignSecretary recently met hisLankan counterpart,Defence Secretary,Secretary to President andalso President Rajapakseat Colombo.''Our concernsregarding the plight of theTamils were explicitlyreiterated. Certainsuggestions to amelioratetheir conditions wereproposed, the mostimportant being an offer toset up a Field MedicalUnit/Hospital to cater to thecivilians and internallydisplaced personsevacuated from the warzone.''The Sri Lankanside has respondedenthusiastically to this offerand the field hospital hasbeen established and it isfunctioning well,'' he said.
Devolve power to Tamils,India tells Lanka
Madras HC violence: SC declines officers' status quo plea
 
Times Chennai E-PaperMarch 25, 2009Page 2
Chennai, Mar 25:
TheMadras High Court hasordered notice of motion ona writ petition challengingthe establishment ofuniversity constituentcolleges under public-private partnership (PPP)by Anna University,Coimbatore. Whileordering notice yesterday,Justice K Suguna directedthe University to filecounter within two weeks.In its petition, theAssociation ofManagement ofCoimbatore AnnaUniversity AffiliatedColleges, represented byits president, JSudhanandhen, submittedthat a new scheme ofestablishing engineeringcolleges under the 'Public-Private Partnership' wasintroduced following aresolution passed by theSyndicate in February.The petitioner said theproposal was opposed tothe principles laid down bythe High Court and theSupreme Court relatingto the establishment ofcolleges for teachingtechnical subjects.These colleges would beoutside the purview of theAll India Council forTechnical Education, hesaid.The schemeenabled the privatemanagement to admit 20per cent of students on itsown and 80 per cent ofthe seats would beearmarked for theuniversity. An additionalten per cent seats wouldbe created to enable thegovernment to admitstudents at its discretion.The associationsaid the scheme wouldbe in force for nine years.Thereafter, if the staffmembers opted, AnnaUniversity, Coimbatore,was bound to take all ofthem as its employees.However, discretion wasgiven to privatemanagements and staffmembers to eithercontinue the scheme orremain with the privatemanagement or to go tothe university.It prayed thecourt to issue a directionto call for the records ofthe university relating tothe establishment of thecolleges under thescheme and quash thesame.The matter hasbeen posted for hearingon April eight.
-Agencies
HC orders notice to varsity
Chennai, Mar 25:
TheMadras High Court todayissued notice to the TamilNadu Government on apetition, challenging thedetention of PeriyarDravidar KazhagamPresident Kolathur Maniunder the NationalSecurity Act (NSA).Admitting aHabeas Corpus Petition(HCP) filed by P SPalanisamy, brother ofMani, a Division Benchcomprising JusticesElipe Dharma Rao and RSubbiah, directed thestate government to file areply within four weeks.In his petition,Mr Palanisamy submittedthat his brother wasdetained under NSA dueto political motive by thepolice.Contending thatthe district collector hadno power to pass NSAorder, he said only thecentral government hadthe powers to detain aperson under NSA, andsought the court to setMani at liberty.He was
New Delhi, March 25:
The Supreme Court todayreserved its verdict on theissue whether Tamil NaduChief Minister MKarunanidhi, UnionShipping Minister T RBaalu and four others areliable to be prosecuted forcontempt of the Court foralleged violation of theapex court order, datedSeptember 30, 2008,directing the DMK and itsallies not to enforce state-wide bandh on October 1.The ruling DMKand its allies had given acall for the state-widebandh in support of theirdemand for the speedycompletion of theSetusamudram Project.The project hadhit a road block because ofthe proposed demolition ofthe Ram Setu, whichHindus believe wasconstructed by Lord Ramto reach Sri Lanka to freehis wife Sita from thecaptivity of demon kingRavana.The apex courthad issued showcausenotices to Mr Karunanidhi,Mr Baalu, State ChiefSecretary L K Tripathi,State DGP and the StateTransport Minister and theState Transport Secretaryfor not implementing thedirections of the apexcourt, issued during aspecial sitting on a Sunday.A benchcomprising Justices B NAggarwal and G SSinghvi reserved theverdict on the contemptof court petition, filed byAIADMK chief andformer Chief Minister JJayalalithaa, who hasalleged that the entirestate was paralysed onOctober 1 despite theapex court directions tothe contrary.The petitionerhad also contended thatMr Tripathi had toldmedia on October 1 thatonly about 50 transportbuses plied in the statewhen it had a fleet ofabout 30,000 buses.According tothe petitioner, no actionwas taken against theleaders, who enforce thebandh causingtremendous hardshipand harassment to thepeople of the state.Loss of severalcrores of rupees wascaused to the stateexchequer and thegovernment connivedwith the organisers of thebandh and no action wastaken against a majorityof the state governmentemployees, whoabstained from work onthat day.Mr Baalu hadalso made derogatoryremarks against JusticeAggarwal for passing theorders on Sunday.
-Agencies
HC issues notice to TN govt ondetention of Kolathur Mani
arrested on March 2 for hisalleged support to thebanned LTTE.Dindigul policehad registered a caseagainst him for addressinga meeting recently insupport of the LTTE in thename of espousing thecause of Sri Lankan Tamils.A special policeteam from Dindigul went toKolathur and arrested Manifrom his house and laterdetained him under NSA.
-Agencies
SC reserves verdict onKarunanidhi, Baalufor contempt
 
Times Chennai E-PaperMarch 25, 2009Page 3
Chennai, Mar 25
 
:
MDMK MLA MKannappan, whorepresented the party inThondamuthurconstituency in TamilNadu assembly, todayresigned hismembership, accordingto an official pressrelease.Mr Kannappan,had joined the rulingDMK earlier this week,leaving the MDMKfollowing differences withGeneral Secretary Vaiko.Mr Kannappanwas also the Presidium
Kannappan resigns as MDMK MLA
Chennai, Mar 25 :
For 43-year-old New Delhi-basedMeena Tomar, it was avirtual rebirth as she hadbeen having severalmedical complications overthe years.She has a historyof back pain and washaving high blood pressurefor the last 15 years. Herkidney failed five yearsback prompting her to gofor a renal transplantation.She startedbecoming diabetic due tointake of steroids andimmuno-suppressantmedicines following kidneytransplantation.Her condition wasquite stable till Septemberlast year, before shestarted developingcomplications. Thetransplanted kidney startedfailing because of thedissecting aneurysm,which led to diminishedflow to the kidney.She required urgentsurgery to prevent totalfailure of the transplantedkidney and to save her lifefrom the risk of aneurysmrupture.A 64-slice CTangiogram showed a largeaneurysm involving theascending arch anddescending thoracic aorta.It also showed that heraorta started narrowingdue to the dissectinganeurysm.Several hospitalsin New Delhi washed theirhands off saying thesurgery was very risky.Hoping againsthope, she came to know,through a nephrologist,about the Miot Hospitals,where a team of doctorsheaded by Dr V V Bashi, forthe first time in the world,performed an unique two-stage hybrid surgerythrough a minimallyinvasive approach foraneurysm of the ascendingarch and descendingthoracic aorta, on a patientwith previous kidneytransplant.''Just 25 cases ofhybrid surgery for aorticarch aneurysms had beenreported in literature so far.Though we haveexperience in this surgeryin about six patients withsuccess, for the first time inthe world it was done on apatient who had undergonea renal transplant,'' DrBashi and Miot HospitalsManaging Director MrsMallika Mohandas toldreporters here today.''If we had notperformed thisprocedure, her kidneywould have failed and theaneurysm would haveruptured resulting in afatal complication,'' DrBashi said.Dr Bashi saidthe renal transplantpatients were susceptibleto infections during majorsurgeries. Besides therewas also the risk factor.''Hence I decided to takea less aggressiveapproach by going for ahybrid surgery with archdebranching followed bya keyhole surgery to doendovascular stenting ofthe aneurysm'', he added.The two-stagesurgery, totally involving just about two hours, wasperformed over 15 days.The first stage surgerywas performed onFebruary 18 when thechest was opened in themidline and a graft wasconnected from theascending aorta to theinnominate artery and leftcommon carotid artery.''The uniquefeature was that archdebranching was done onbeating heart without theuse of Heart Lungmachine'', Dr Bashi said.The secondstage surgery on Marchtwo, involved a keyholeoperation in groin tointroduce theendovascular stent graftto cover the aneurysm ofthe ascending arch anddescending aorta, whichwas performed underlocal anaesthesia.A visiblyrelieved, Ms Meenaprofusely thanked thehospital managementand Dr Bashi and histeam for giving her arebirth.Ms MallikaMohandas said thissurgery showed that evencomplicated problemslike this could besuccessfully treated withadvanced technologyand highly skilledpersonnel.The teamheaded by Dr Bashi,included Dr Kannan RNair and Dr V Harilal,interventional radioogistDr Murali andInterventionalCardiologist DrShivakumar, besidesanaesthesiast Dr AjuJacob.
-Staff Reporter
Unique two-stage hybridsurgery performed on woman
Chairman of the MDMK.He submitted hisresignation to Tamil NaduAssembly Speaker RAvudaiappan.The Speakeraccepted the resignationwith immediate effect.
-Agencies
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