CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ nagapattinam l thursday l january 20, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION SC gives chief secys of AP, Bihar a piece of its mind over tardy relief is total callousness and negligence on part of Andhra Pradesh... It is unfortuAppalled at the slow pace of disbur- nate that directions of this court are sal of Covid ex-gratia by a few states de- taken so lightly. Your chief secretary spite multiple directions, the Supreme and chief minister are not above law. Court on Wednesday asked the chief People are not at your mercy This is an . secretaries of Bihar and Andhra order by the court and you are not Pradesh to appear before it, statobliging us by following it,” the ing people cannot be left at the bench said. mercy of the executive. In the post-lunch session, both The court directed states to Andhra Pradesh Chief Secreshare complete details about the tary Sameer Sharma and his Binumber of Covid deaths as har counterpart Amir Subhawell as information uploaded ni appeared. By then, Andhra Slap on on the Bal Swaraj Portal with had updated its figures. It said Kerala’s wrist it received 41,292 applications their respective State Legal While Telangana Services Authorities. in all out of which 34,819 were had officially It also directed states to go found eligible, and 23,835 have recorded 3,993 by the information uploaded already received compensadeaths, it received on the Bal Swaraj Portal to oftion. Of the 10,984 to be paid, 28,969 claims. In fer compensation and reha5,141 will get it within three contrast, Kerala’s bilitation to all children ordays. Also, the rejected claims official toll is phaned by the virus. will be reviewed suo motu, While Andhra Pradesh’s of- 49,300 but has just Sharma assured. 27, 274 claims. ficial records show 14,471 CovBihar, too was pulled up for id deaths, after the Supreme “What is this going received just 11,095 claims. on in Kerala? Why Court’s orders in June and OcThe bench felt the state had are there so few tober to pay `50,000 ex-gratia, not done enough to communithe state received 36,205 claims claims? Why cannot cate the scheme to the people. as on January 16. But compen- officials reach out to It refused to accept that Bisation had been given to only the family or the kin har’s official Covid toll was for compensation? 12,090. The state’s recorded 11,464 so far. A bench of justices M R Let your people find toll as on March last year was Shah and Sanjiv Khanna said, out the families of 3,737. The bench also rapped victims,” the “It is unfortunate that despite Gujarat, Maharashtra and bench said our earlier directions... there Jharkhand for low disbursal. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi defection to BJP from Mulayam’s pariwar Lucknow: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joined the BJP on Wednesday, saying that she supports the good governance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the real reason was SP chief Akhilesh’s reluctance to give her a ticket for the upcoming polls so as not to create alternative power centres. Aparna is married to Prateek Yadav, the son of Mulayam’s second wife Page 8 Global 777 Flights Hit by U.S. 5G rollout E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Several global airlines, including Air India, have cancelled their flights to the US as a precautionary measure to avoid accidents due to the 5G rollout in North America from Wednesday . The move follows a warning from the US aviation regulator that the high-speed telecom service could interfere with the radio altimeters used by aircraft to take off and land. This is because the band on which altimeter works is very close to that on which 5G system works. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has allowed aircraft with accurate, reliable altimeters to fly into airports with 5G signals but the widely used Boeing 777 is not on the list, triggering large-scale flight cancellations. Many global airlines including Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, All Nippon Airways, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific and Austrian Airlines either cancelled their trips or used planes other than 777s. Air India cancelled eight flights on India-US routes till further notice. These include services between Delhi and San Francisco, Chicago and JFK, as well as between Mumbai and Newark. “We are working closely with aircraft manufacturers and the relevant authorities to alleviate operational concerns, and we hope to resume our US services as soon as possible,” it said. US telecom groups AT&T and Verizon, which are rolling out 5G, claimed the services won’t interfere with aircraft technology The Federal Communications . Commission, which set a buffer between the 5G band and the spectrum that planes use, has also cleared the services in the vicinity of air traffic. However, Why it’s a US problem While 5G has been introduced in other countries without creating safety concerns for airlines, the services planned in the US differ in several ways as they include the C-band frequencies, which are closer to those used by aircraft’s sensitive equipment, and at higher power levels the FAA saw a potential problem and the telcos agreed to pause the service near airports while it is addressed. The 5G services were originally scheduled to start in the US in December 2021, but the operators delayed it by a month to allow time for safety reviews. express read CM Stalin constitutes 4th Police Commission under ex-HC judge Chennai: The CM on Wednesday constituted a Police Commission headed by ex-HC judge CT Selvam to improve relationship between police and public; study service conditions, duties, and responsibilities of police personnel; and modernise the police force, as per a DMK poll promise | P4 2 choke to death while clearing septic tank near Tambaram Chennai: Two workers were asphyxiated when they entered into an underground septic tank of a house for cleaning at Varadharajapuram near Tambaram on Wednesday. The incident happened when the workers got into the tank to clear the blockage using an iron rod. Ezhumalai and Rajesh, both aged 35, died on the spot Panel nod for regular market approval to Covishield, Covaxin New Delhi: An expert panel of India’s central drug authority on Wednesday recommended granting regular market approval to Covid vaccines Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, which are currently only authorised for emergency use in the country, subject to certain conditions, official sources said | P7 NATIONWIDE jan 18 jan 19 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 2,38,018 2,82,970 1,57,421 1,88,157 310 441 tamil nadu jan 18 jan 19 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 23,888 15,036 29 26,981 17,456 35 Jab-o-meter Take your shot January 18 65,85,945 doses January 19 62,39,005 doses Total doses 1,59,54,40,865 HC: TN govt docs can compete for 50% quota and open seats in PG med courses R S i v a k u m a r @ Chennai In-service government doctors can now compete for admission to postgraduate medical courses under the 50 per cent reservation as well as open quota in medical colleges in Tamil Nadu. The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the quota and weightage marks given to government doctors serving in hills and rural areas. Justice M Dhandapani passed the orders dismissing the petition filed by Dr R Parkaviyan and others challenging a 2021 government order (GO) that approved clause 29 (c) of the prospectus for admission to postgraduate (PG) and diploma courses in Tamil Nadu government medical colleges and government seats in self-financing medical colleges for the year 2021-22. “This court is of the view that the norms prescribed under 29 (c) of the impugned prospectus and the consequential GO (D) No 1108 dated October 4, 2021, issued for selection of candidates to PG medical degree courses under the State-wise quota does not suffer the vice of any illegality irrationality arb , , HC upholds service marks HC also rejects objections against weightage marks for service in hilly/ difficult/rural areas to be considered along with NEET score for admissions saying the GO was not challenged itrariness or perversity,” he said in the order. The judge also rejected the objections for providing the weightage marks for service at hilly/difficult/ rural areas to be considered along with NEET score for admission saying that the relevant GO was not challenged by the petitioners. Justice Dhandapani further said the court is of the view that not only is the State empowered to create channels of selection by prescribing quotas for open category and in-service candidates but also is within its powers to lay down norms with regard to the basis in which the merit list is to be prepared for determining the inter se merit of candidates in the two different categories.  Continued on: P4 The naval brass band performs during a full rehearsal for Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Wednesday | PTI