Indian Institute of Technology director backs students on campus curfews

April 20, 2012
IIT

Chennai, April 20: The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, which is on a safety-cum-morality drive, is having trouble keeping its house in order.

At an open campus forum on Thursday, IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said hostel wardens don't have the authority to impose curfews without his approval.

The director's statement comes in the wake of reports that a few wardens are imposing their own rules in hostels claiming that they have the rights to do so.

The open discussion held at the central lecture theatre, which attended by the undergraduates, postgraduates and executive council members, discussed the controversial remarks made by some senior faculty members and wardens.

Ramamurthi clarified that views of some individuals is not that of the institution. "Individual views are immaterial and they depend on how that individual was brought up. But, just because the students are adults, we cannot evade rules," the director reportedly told the students as an introduction.

A student, who attended the meeting, said the director was more democratic in his opinions. "The director listened to the complaints of students on the new rules imposed by a warden at Tapti hostel and he promised them that such complaints will be considered," said the student. During the discussion, the students raised the issue of a set of rules in Tapti hostel like the right of room cleaners to continuously knock student rooms until they open and strict restrictions to stay in the hostel rooms from 9am to 4pm. The director disagreed with them and said, "Any decision to be taken finally will be collective."

Another proposal from the management -- a declaration to be signed by all students -- also invited protest from students. The declaration says, "The signatory is aware of the risks faced by wandering in the night outside safe zones and of the potential consequences of taking these risks." A senior faculty said rather than admitting and publicizing dangerous zones, the administration should have taken measures to make them safe. The management's move to curb the freedom of students continues to get brickbats from several faculty members in closed-group email communications.

A department head told TOI that imposing any individual views and rules on the student community will make them apolitical. "Our students are better informed and are mature than many of us. Their source of information and ideas should be respected at any cost and the errors should be corrected in a democratic way," he said.

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News Network
March 19,2020

Attari, Mar 19: At least 29 Indians, who had gone to Dubai to watch a cricket match which was called off later, on Wednesday night returned to India through the land transit route of Attari-Wagah border here.

Earlier, when they entered India after being cleared by the Pakistan Immigration Authority, they were detained at Attari border, as they were not having requisite permission on their passport to return to India through Pakistan.

According to officials, they had earlier flown to Dubai from New Delhi to watch a Pakistan League Cricket match there.

The match, however, was aborted and they decided to return India via Pakistan. They took a flight to Pakistan and after landing there, they took land route to reach Attari-Wagah border.

All were cleared by Indian immigration authority after being allowed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Amritsar Civil Surgeon Dr Prabdeep Kaur Johal said that by 9.30 PM all the Indian nationals were not handed over to the medical team for checkup.

She said if anyone of them are found with any symptoms of the virus, they would be admitted to Amritsar Government Hospital or else they would be allowed to continue their journey to Delhi or elsewhere.

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News Network
April 14,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 14: The Kerala government on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange special flights to the Gulf to bring back non resident Keralites stranded there due to the lockdown.

In a letter to Modi, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said many Keralites who had gone on visit visas and in search of employment were finding it difficult to continue there without jobs.

"While we appreciate the constraints faced in allowing international travel as the threat of COVID-19 has not yet receded, it is requested that special consideration to their needs be given and at an earliest opportune time, the Government of India consider arranging special flights to bring these people back," Vijayan said in the letter.

All International health protocols can be followed while extending this facility, he said and assured that testing and quarantine needs of Keralites who are returning would be undertaken by the state government. During the video conferencing the Prime Minister had with Chief Ministers on April 11, this matter had been broght to Modi's notice, Vijayan said.

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News Network
April 20,2020

London, Apr 20 : Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India on alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to an estimated ₹9,000 crore, today lost a High Court appeal in UK against his extradition order to India.

A consortium of Indian public sector banks led by the State Bank of India had sought a bankruptcy order against Mallya as part of efforts to recoup around GBP 1.145 billion of unpaid loans from Mallya.

The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss had appealed to the High Court against his extradition to India at a hearing in February this year.

Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench at the Royal Courts of Justice in London presiding over the appeal, dismissed the appeal in a judgment handed down remotely due to the current coronavirus lockdown.

"We consider that while the scope of the prima facie case found by the SDJ [Senior District Judge] is in some respects wider than that alleged by the Respondent in India [Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED)], there is a prima facie case which, in seven important respects, coincides with the allegations in India," the judges ruled.

Earlier this month, the High Court in London had deferred hearings on a plea by the SBI-led consortium of Indian banks, seeking the indebted tycoon to be declared bankrupt to enable them recover their loan from him.

Justice Michael Briggs of the insolvency division of the High Court granted relief to Mallya, ruling that he should be given time till his petitions to the Supreme Court of India and his settlement proposal before the Karnataka High Court be determined, allowing him time to repay his debts to the banks in full.

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