PM unveils model of Netaji memorial Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday unveiled the model of a memorial dedicated to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, to be set up in Andaman and Nicobar To mark Netaji’s 126th birth anniversary, Modi also named 21 islands of the Union Territory after Param Vir Chakra awardees Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on Parakram Diwas, in New Delhi on Monday | ANI kottayam l tuesday l January 24, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 HC Lawyer collected kickbacks to ‘buy’ verdicts Course of justice Kochi City Police Commissioner K Sethu Raman said a preliminary inquiry has been launched on the HC vigilance wing’s report. “We will examine which offences can be included. A decision in this regard will be taken only after recording the statement of the persons who raised the allegations. Once the recording of statements is over, a report will be submitted to the state police chief,” Sethu Raman said. P R am d as @Kochi The court can send intimation to Bar Council of Kerala about regarding the lawyer’s misconduct for initiating action This is the first instance of the Kerala High Court vigilance wing submitting such a scathing report against a lawyer What’s the price of justice? While that is debatable, there seems to be a price tag to get favourable verdicts. At least that is what a leading lawyer with the Kerala High Court had his clients believe when he collected lakhs from them. The money he told them, , was meant as kickbacks for HC judges to get judgments in their favour. The shocking revelation was made in the report submitted by the HC’s vigilance wing af- Ziyad Rahman A A of the Kerter a detailed probe into the ala HC. “Prima facie, there is dealings of lawyer Saiby Jose sufficient material to prove the Kidangoor. The probe was allegations against the lawyer,” launched following revelations said the report, a copy of which by HC lawyers as is with TNIE. It well as a directive also said his inpress from the court. clusive tegrity was ‘highThe report said ly doubtful’. the team found The HC vigiseveral instances of Saiby col- lance wing had recorded statelecting huge sums of money ments from several lawyers. from clients by taking the One said that as per the infornames of Justice P V Kun- mation he received, Saiby sehikrishnan, Justice A Mu- cured `25 lakh from a client to hamed Mustaque and Justice be given as bribe to a judge. An- 80,000 Indians in US face layoff heat Have to find a new job within two months or leave the country; share plight on social media platforms; Spotify to cut its staff base by 6% u M A k A N N A N @ Bengaluru WITH a series of layoff announcements by all top tech companies globally in recent weeks, reports suggest that 60,000-80,000 Indian IT professionals in the US have lost jobs. A majority of them are said to be on H-1B and L1 visas, who will have to find another job within 60 days or pack up. Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet together have laid off 51,000 employees. Till now, 3,11,592 employees have lost jobs, according to Layoffs.fyi, which compiles data from public reports and tracks layoffs. In 2023 alone, 174 tech companies laid off 56,570 employees. Many affected Indians have shared their stories on social media. Monambigha M, one of the impacted Google employees, said in a LinkedIn post that she must spring back into action as being an immigrant on an H-1B visa does not give her the flexibility to take time off. She joined Google only 10 months ago. After working with Google for three years and six months, Kunal Kumar Gupta received the termination mail. “I am immediately open to work and would need immediate assistance to find a role as I am on an H-1B visa which gives me 60 days to find a job,” Gupta said. Meanwhile, Swedish music streaming firm Spotify on Monday announced that it is reducing its employee base by 6%, or about 600 employees. In a note to employees, CEO Daniel Ek said, “While we have made great progress in improving speed in the last few years, we haven’t focused as much on improving efficiency... And in a challenging economic environment, efficiency takes on greater importance. So, in an effort to drive more efficiency control , costs... I have decided to restructure our organisation.” According to HR experts, it is not difficult for those who lost jobs in the US to find one in India. Vijay Sivaram, CEO of Quess IT Staffing, expects hiring intent for IT professionals across tech and non-tech companies to revert to its pre-pandemic levels. “Hot skills such as full stack engineers, data analysts and scientists, DevOps specialists, and cloud engineers will be sought after,” he said. 200,000 Tech employees lost jobs in the US since November Spotify Swedish music streaming company decides to trim 6% of its workforce, or 600 employees 30-40% Of the affected are Indian IT professionals who are on H-1B and L1 visas 60 days Grace period for non-immigrant visa holders to find another job, or they will have to leave the US other lawyer said Saiby allegedly collected `50 lakh from clients. The second lawyer also alleged that Saiby and his friends had been threatening him ever since he made the revelation on social media. A third advocate said a film producer, who is an accused in a case registered with the Ernakulam South police station, had spent `25 lakh on the case. The producer, said the lawyer, had told him that `15 lakh was paid to Saiby as fees. As per the lawyer, when the producer Judges don’t face poll, but people are watching: Min After Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud’s request for Union law minister Kiren Ri- imposition of curbs on social jiju on Monday threw another media against adverse combarb at the judiciary, saying ments on judges, the Centre is though judges don’t face public considering to take stern steps, scrutiny or polling like politi- he said, but wondered what cians, people are watchcould be done if the ing and forming opincriticism is on a “mass ions based on their scale”. “CJI told me performance. that there should be Speaking at a Delhi some restrictions on Bar Association event, social media. CJI asked Rijiju said, “Judges us to take some stern don’t have to face elecsteps against people tions. They are also not commenting on judges. subjected to public We are considering it. Kiren Rijiju scrutiny Although the . But when people are public can’t elect judges, they criticising at a mass scale, are watching them. Their judg- what can we do?” Rijiju asked. ments, the way they work and Reiterating that his letter to the manner in which they dis- the CJI dated January 6, did not pense justice, people are look- seek government nominees on ing and also forming an opin- the collegium, he said it was ion. In the age of social media, meant as a follow up of the SC’s nothing can be hidden.” verdict in the NJAC case. S H R U T I K A KK A R @ New Delhi sought a concession of `5 lakh, Saiby told him that “some amount was to be given to the judge who was considering the case.” The probe officer concluded that Saiby’s acts would come within the ambit of professional misconduct as per Section 35 of the Advocates Act. The vigilance wing also suggested contempt of court proceedings as per Section 2 (c) of the Contempt of Court Act. Saiby was recently elected president of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association. EXPRESS READ Film inst stir ends Kottayam: Students of K R Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts called off their 50-day-long strike following talks with the minister on Monday, two days after the institute’s director resigned | P5 Norovirus in Ekm Kochi: Norovirus, a stomach bug, has been detected in Ernakulam with 62 students of a school showing symptoms. The presence of the virus has been confirmed in five students | P5 P K Firos arrested T’Puram: The Cantonment police have arrested Muslim Youth League general secretary P K Firos under non-bailable sections in connection with the violence that erupted during the Secretariat march organised by his outfit on January 18 | P4