​Misplaced urgency: On the Madras High Court interim order

By staying the operation of Tamil Nadu's multiple amended Acts — to the extent that they empower the government to appoint Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) of 18 State universities — the Madras High Court has effectively halted the momentum that followed last month's landmark Supreme Court verdict, which granted deemed assent to 10 Bills on which the Tamil Nadu Governor had inordinately delayed action. The interim order, delivered by Justices G.R. Swaminathan and V. Lakshminarayanan, effectively restores to the Governor-Chancellor, the powers of appointing V-Cs, which those very Bills had sought to divest. The result is a continuing stalemate: nearly a dozen universities remain headless, with appointments frozen until further judicial intervention. The Vacation Bench, acting on a petition by a lawyer, held that interim relief was justified because the impugned Acts 'fall foul of the law' laid down by the Supreme Court in prior rulings on V-C appointments. These include Professor (Dr.) Sreejith P.S. vs Dr. Rajasree M.S. (APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University) and Gambhirdan K. Gadhvi vs The State Of Gujarat (Sardar Patel University). In both cases, the appointment of V-Cs was quashed for violating Regulation 7.3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations, 2018, which govern the composition of search committees and procedures for V-C appointments. The High Court rejected the State's argument that it had adopted the UGC Regulations in 2021 with a caveat excluding Regulation 7.3. The judges held that stripping the Chancellor of appointment powers was plainly unconstitutional — '... is so glaring and obvious that we cannot shut our eyes,' they wrote.
What is equally glaring, however, is the misplaced urgency with which the Bench moved to deprive the amended Acts of legal effect. The High Court overlooked the Higher Education Department counsel's submission that the State had mentioned before the Supreme Court seeking urgent listing of a petition to transfer the instant case to itself; and that the Supreme Court had indicated that the High Court may be apprised of this fact. Judicial propriety would suggest that a lower court must exercise restraint in such cases. Moreover, the interim order was passed without affording the State adequate time to file its counter affidavit. In any case, while the current impasse on V-C appointments in Tamil Nadu persists, given the conflicting case precedents — Kalyani Mathivanan and Jagdish Prasad Sharma among them — the Supreme Court, should it hear the case, must settle, once and for all, the critical question: can UGC Regulations issued by a subordinate authority override State legislation enacted under constitutional authority?

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The Hindu

an hour ago

• The Hindu

Activists call for strict measures so that green lung spaces can breathe effectively

In the wake of shrinking urban green spaces, activists have called for a proper identification, mapping and fencing of the areas earmarked for parks and Open Space Reservation land so that they are used for public purposes. They stressed the need to place information boards regarding the purpose of the lands in order to protect these and ensure it was used only for public purposes. If these spaces were left unguarded, then the land could be encroached upon or the land could turn into dumping yards, they said. Advocate R. Karunanidhi said as per Rules, the land developers should earmark 10% of the total extent as 'Open Space Reservation' land to be used for public purposes such as public parks and playgrounds. In March, four residents of Ponmani Garden North in Uthangudi in Madurai had filed a public interest litigation petition before the High Court seeking to restrain authorities from putting up any construction on the space earmarked for a park. The residents said the land in survey numbers under Uthangudi village was formed into a layout and it was approved by the authorities. The area that was specifically earmarked for a park was intended for recreational use of the residents. The park was used by the public, particularly by children for playing, and by elderly citizens for walking and relaxation. Under these circumstances, the residents said Corporation authorities had undertaken construction activities for a proposed pumping station. The residents said the loss of a dedicated public park will severely impact the quality of life in the locality and deprive them of an essential community space. The court ordered the status quo be maintained. After the Corporation told the court that the place earmarked for the park has not been used for any other purpose, the petition was closed. The High Court has been hearing a number of such petitions to restrain the authorities from using lands earmarked for parks for any other purposes. The court also directed the authorities to take necessary steps to maintain these parks. The Tamil Nadu Parks, Play-fields and Open space (Preservation and Regulation) Act, 1959 was enacted in the interest of the public to preserve and regulate parks, play-fields and open spaces, the court had observed. In January, to a query raised at the Madurai Corporation Council meeting with regard to the open space reservation and the space allocated for parks, the authorities said a zone wise list/maps earmarking such spaces was prepared. However, AIADMK Councillor Solairaja said they were yet to get such a list. In Dindigul, CPI (M) Councillor S. Ganesan alleged that a prime land in R.M. Colony earmarked as a children's playground has been encroached upon. He pointed out that as per records the land was earmarked as a children's playground at the time of formation of housing plot. He said the land was encroached upon by influential people. Though this was brought to the notice of the authorities, appropriate steps have not been taken to remove the encroachment so far, he said, adding that he had also served notices to the authorities. He said he will be filing a public interest litigation petition before the High Court in this regard. He pointed out that not just in R.M. Colony in the district, but in several places such spaces had been encroached upon. Offering a solution to prevent such incidents, he said there should be regular monitoring of such lands. The authorities should fence the land and place boards with information for the purpose it is intended to be used, he said. Activist V. P. Manikandan of Madurai said if necessary monitoring steps were not taken, such open spaces would turn into parking lots, waste dumping yards and also could be encroached upon. He added that awareness was required. While precautionary measures have been suggested by activists, the district administrations are doing their bit to improve green spaces in the respective districts. Madurai Corporation officials said sapling planting drives have been initiated to improve the urban lung spaces. In Dindigul, a cleanliness drive has been initiated and the authorities inspected the maintenance work being carried out in a park in R.M. Colony. Similarly, in Thoothukudi district, the Corporation had launched a green initiative through sapling plantation drives and park restoration works. Waste materials and invasive species were being removed as part of the initiative. The District Legal Services Authorities in Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga have also undertook mega sapling plantation drives and awareness programmes recently. Recently, Sivaganga District Collector Asha Ajith's initiative to clean up water bodies and plant saplings around them has been getting huge response from philanthropists thus showing that people are concerned about preserving the eco-system. A senior official in Sivaganga said that governments alone cannot achieve results. With public participation, not only water bodies, but every single public place - be it in residential or commercial locations - can bring about a substantial change in preserving the environment.

The Hindu

2 hours ago

• The Hindu

Teachers wait for jobs and justice

Payel Dutta, 35, and Smritikana Roy, 33, sit on the footpath outside Bikash Bhawan in Kolkata's Salt Lake area on a sweltering afternoon. They are writing to the President of India Droupadi Murmu, asking for a restoration of their jobs as teachers. Either that, or they seek permission for 'voluntary euthanasia'. Bikash Bhawan is the headquarters of West Bengal's State Education Department, and Dutta and Roy teach mathematics and English, respectively. Two months ago, the Supreme Court annulled the appointment of 25,752 teachers and non-teaching staff in State-run schools. The appointments had been made in 2016 by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), the body that holds the entrance examination for school jobs. Since then, Bikash Bhawan has become the site of protests of those whose appointments stand cancelled. Women and men, many in their 30s and 40s, assemble outside the blue and white government building. Wiping her tears, Dutta, who teaches in Murshidabad Indrani Hasna Mayani High School, says, 'When I took the exam in 2016, I was unmarried and did not have a child; I had free time to prepare. Now, I have in-laws also to care for. I will have to compete with younger people to get re-appointed at a job which I worked hard to get.' Roy, who teaches at Baharampur Mahakali Pathshala, says growing up she had always looked at teaching as a noble profession, but now she struggles. 'We were beaten up, dragged on the roads, and we have even shed blood on the streets. We have lost all self-respect. Our students see us sitting on the roads, getting baton-charged by the police. Will they ever respect us like before?' Roy says. She too is a mother now and can't imagine going through the recruitment process all over again. Most of those recruited in 2016 had worked for about five years before their dismissal earlier this year. A series of events The West Bengal school recruitment scam came to light in July 2022, when former State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and his aide Arpita Mukherjee were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. The Central investigating agency recovered cash, jewellery and immovable property worth ₹103.10 crore linked to the Minister and his aide. So far, the investigation has resulted in scores of arrests that include officials of the State Education Department, politicians associated with the ruling Trinamool Congress, and touts. The touts would allegedly offer jobs in State-run schools in return for money that was then paid 'upwards'. The SC has stipulated that 'selectees with purported evidence and material indicating wrongdoing' were to relinquish their jobs immediately. After the April 3 Supreme Court judgment annulling all the appointments, protests began. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met those who had lost jobs on April 7. 'We have 'Plan A, B, C, D, and E' ready. Did you receive any notice terminating your job? You go and work.... Who has stopped you? Continue with your work,' she assured the teachers. The first incident of violence occurred on April 9, when protesters stormed the office of the District Inspector (DI) of schools in Kasba in south Kolkata and a scuffle broke out. In videos circulated after, a police officer was seen kicking a protesting teacher, which prompted outrage. On April 17, the Supreme Court allowed the teachers 'who claim that they were validly selected and have committed no wrongdoing' to continue in the State's government and aided schools. They are to be retained until fresh recruitment takes place in December 2025. The Court also directed the State Government to file an affidavit before May 30 enclosing the advertisement and a schedule of the entire recruitment process. The first two weeks of May witnessed widespread protests by those who had lost jobs, mostly outside Bikash Bhawan. By way of a shorthand, they called themselves the 'untainted'. On May 15, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Bikash Bhawan, saying they would not allow government employees to leave the office unless the State government found a way out. Tensions ran high as dusk descended, and the employees working in several departments grew desperate to leave. A large contingent of police arrived to clear the protesters from around the gates of the government institution. The police resorted to baton charge, leaving scores of protesters injured. This was covered extensively on live television news. The next day, the West Bengal police justified its actions saying they were getting distress calls from employees who wanted to return home. 'We used minimal force. We understand they have lost their jobs, but they broke barricades, used force to get inside Bikash Bhawan, and did not allow over 500 employees to leave the premises,' said Supratim Sarkar, Additional Director General, South Bengal, addressing the media. Chinmoy Mondal, a representative of Deserving Teachers Rights Forum, a group formed for the protest, says everyone knows why 'deserving teachers' are on the streets and outside Bikash Bhawan. 'They call this minimal force? It left us with fractures, head and eye injuries, and blood loss,' Mondal said. On May 27, the CM said that her government would start a fresh recruitment process for teachers as per the Supreme Court order. Simultaneously, the government would pursue a review petition in the SC seeking the reinstatement of all the teachers and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs. 'The process of the review petition and fresh appointments will continue simultaneously,' she said at the State Secretariat, bringing the options from 'A, B, C, D and E' down to two. On May 31, West Bengal brought out a notification for appointment for 44,203 vacancies as teachers. The government allowed age relaxations so that the teachers whose jobs have been annulled can get a shot at recruitment. Physical hurt and mental trauma By the first week of June, the protesters were asked to shift to a different venue. The most accessible spot for all was the metro station closest to Bikash Bhawan. On a sweltering June afternoon, hundreds of young women and men poured out of the Karunamoyee metro station, greeting each other like old friends. 'How are you? How's your eye? You look tired,' a protester asks 33-year-old Rajat Haldar, a physics teacher in Subhash Nagar High School in South 24 Parganas. Since May 15, Haldar has had a deep scar over his left eyebrow. He claims it is from when he was beaten by the police. 'It is difficult for me to stay in the sun for too long now. My head starts throbbing,' he tells a well-wishing fellow protester. He says the memories of the violent clash of May 15 are traumatic to recall. 'All I remember was that around 9.30 that night, after verbal altercations started between protestors and police outside Bikash Bhawan, a few of my fellow teachers and I were peacefully seated along one of the boundary walls. Two police personnel came and demanded to know what we were doing. Moments later, without any warning, two constables charged at us with batons and struck my head,' he says. Suvojit Das, in his mid 30s, one of the leading voices of the Jogyo Shikkhok Shikkhika Adhikar Mancha (JSSAM), an organisation of 'aggrieved teachers', frequently visits the protest site at Karunamoyee. 'We are dying a slow death every day. It is one thing to be executed at a moment's notice, and it is another thing to be told when you will be executed and to have to wait in misery till that day arrives,' says Das, as fellow teachers gather around him. 'For us, December 31, our last working day stipulated by the Supreme Court, is like that. We wake up worrying about December 31,' says the mathematics teacher. Protesting teachers say that Praveen Karmakar, a teacher from Amui Para Refugee School in Hooghly, died during the course of the protests. He had an underlying illness that was triggered by 'severe mental stress', they say. In a hunger protest that about 20 teachers participated in, two of who are visually impaired, several have been hospitalised. Sidelined non-teaching staff Among the employees of State-run schools who have lost their jobs, 2,483 were Group C staff and 4,550 Group D staff serving in non-teaching capacities. They had to leave from the day following the SC order. So far there has been no recruitment notification for Group C and D employees. Amit Mondal, one of the leaders of the Group C and D staff member group, points out that clerical staff is the backbone of schools. Non-teaching staff maintains classrooms, performs various administrative jobs, and ensures the running of schemes like Kanyashree Prakalpa, which incentivises girls to stay in school until Class 12. 'I bring my son, who is just one-and-a-half years old here every day. I have no choice. If I don't earn, he won't get his meals. Thankfully, my husband has been a pillar of support in the struggle,' says Mala Hansda, a Group D school employee from Purulia. She tries to soothe her child, who is crying under the scorching sun. The CM on April 26 announced ₹25,000 and ₹20,000 honorariums to Group C and D staff until the Supreme Court announces a decision on the State's review petition. But the allowance, which was approved by the State Cabinet, was challenged before the Calcutta High Court by some job aspirants who claim they were not appointed because of 'irregularities'. Now, the monthly allowance stays until September 26, as per a court order. The recruitment 'scam' Firdous Shamim, an advocate in the Calcutta High Court, has represented various candidates who alleged irregularities in the recruitment process. 'This scam is an example of institutionalised corruption. There was manipulation of marks and rank jumping; candidates who did not appear in the examination were given appointments,' the lawyer says. Central investigation agencies found evidence of tampering of the optical mark reader (OMR) sheets, where they found that marks of many candidates had been forged. The WBSSC claims that OMR sheets of the 2016 examination have been destroyed and cannot be retrieved. Shadab Shams and Aftab Ansari are married. Both have lost their jobs after the Supreme Court order. Shadab teaches Urdu in a school in Kankinara, and Aftab is a geography teacher in a Hindi-medium school in Titagarh. The couple occasionally brings their daughter to protests as there is no one to take care of her at home. 'What has happened to us is a grave injustice. The government is responsible for the corruption, and now we are on the brink of a crisis. What did we do to deserve this?' Shams says. Edited by Sunalini Mathew

News18

6 hours ago

• News18

EC Cites Privacy, Legal Concerns After Congress Demands Polling Booth CCTV Footage

Last Updated: The Election Commission cited privacy and legal issues in response to Rahul Gandhi's demand for CCTV footage of polling stations. Gandhi urged publishing digital voter rolls. Following a demand made by Congress MP and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, the Election Commission on Saturday cited privacy and legal hurdles while sharing the CCTV footage of webcasting of the polling stations. This comes after Rahul Gandhi has called upon the Election Commission to publish consolidated, digital, machine-readable voter rolls for the most recent elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas of all states, including Maharashtra, saying that 'telling the truth" will protect the poll panel's credibility. ECI said that the seemingly legitimate appeal of releasing the videos or CCTV footage from polling stations on election day undermines voter privacy and security, contradicting the Representation of the People Act and Supreme Court guidelines. 'What is veiled as a very logical demand is actually entirely contrary to the privacy and security concerns of the voters, legal position laid down in the Representation of the People Act, 1950/1951 and the directions of the Supreme Court of India," it said. 'Sharing of the footage, which would enable easy identification of the electors by any group or an individual, would leave both the elector who has voted as well as the elector who has not voted vulnerable to pressure, discrimination and intimidation by anti-social elements," the poll body added. It said that if a particular political party gets a lesser number of votes in a particular booth, it would easily be able to identify, through the CCTV footage, which elector has voted and which elector has not, and thereafter, may harass or intimidate the electors. The Election Commission further issued a point-by-point rebuttal to the Congress MP. . In any election, there may be electors who decide not to vote. Sharing of video footage of the poll day may result in the identification of such electors. This can also lead to profiling of the voters who voted as well as those who did not vote, which may become the basis for discrimination, denial of services, intimidation or inducement. Supreme Court order: The Supreme Court held that the right to vote includes the right not to vote, and the right of secrecy is accorded to even those persons who have decided not to vote. Video footage: Polling day videography records the sequence of voters entering the polling station and their identities, similar to Form 17A, which contains sensitive information about voters, including their ID details and signatures. Both pose a risk to voting secrecy. Violation of secrecy of voting is a punishable offence under Section 128 of RP Act, 1951 for – Any person who contravenes the provisions of this section is punishable with imprisonment for a term expending up to 3 months or fine or both.