TIRUCHY l wednesday l february 08, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION No separate law to check violence against doctors The Centre has decided not to go ahead with a legislation to protect healthcare professionals from physical violence Bill withdrawn after consultations Epidemic diseases act to protect docs In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Union health minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said a draft of the Healthcare Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2019 was circulated for consultations. However, the government decided not to enact a separate law to protect healthcare professionals and institutions ■ ■ The minister said the matter was further discussed with all stakeholders and an ordinance namely The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 was promulgated on April 22, 2020 Later, the govt passed the Act on September 28, 2020 under which violence against doctors are cognizable and non-bailable offences 3 months Jail term and fine of `50,000-2,00,000 for offenders under Epidemic Act 2020 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 SC junks plea, Victoria Gowri sworn in additional HC judge S H R U T I K A K K A R & R S I VA K U M A R @ New Delhi/Chennai Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri was sworn in as additional judge of the Madras High Court on Tuesday amid protests outside the court and minutes before the Supreme Court dismissed two pleas against her appointment, saying a “consultative process” had taken place before her name was recommended by the collegium for the appointment. Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, T Raja, administered her oath of office at the swearing-in ceremony held sourav roy on the high court premises. Four others—Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Kandhasami Kulanthaivelu Ramakrishnan, Ramachandran Kalaimathi and Govindarajan Thilakavadi—were also sworn in as additional judges. All new additional judges will hold their posts for a period of two years from the date of taking oath. “We are not entertaining the writ petition. Reasons will follow,” said a special Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, which assembled at 10.25 am to hear the pleas against her elevation, five minutes before the scheduled time of the court on Tuesday . The bench told senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who appeared for the petitioners, that there have been cases where people with political backgrounds have taken oath as judges of the Supreme Court and high courts. Underscoring the fact that Gowri was taking oath as an additional judge of the Madras HC and her appointment won’t be made permanent in case 11 achievers to get Devi Awards today With you, dear: Dad holds hand of dead daughter Mesut Hancer in an orange jacket sitting on a pile of rubble, holds the hand of his dead daughter Irmak, 15, who lies on a mattress, crushed by a huge concrete block, in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake epicentre in Turkyie AFP T e am i n d u lg e @ Chennai The New Indian Express’ most anticipated event of the year, the Devi Awards is back! The ceremony, which is returning to Chennai after four years, will honour 11 Devis who have made excellent contributions in different fields, including sports, medicine, dance, history, music, and literature. Some of the awardees this year include professional squash player Joshna Chinappa, Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarsini Govind, author-historian Dr Nanditha Krishna, vocalist Vidya Subramanian, and medical professional Dr P Poor na Chandrika. Former Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi will present the awards to the guests at the 23rd edition of the Devi Awards to be held at ITC Grand Chola on February 8.  P5 Dr Nanditha Krishna Historian & author Vidya Subramanian Vocalist Vishakha Hari Singer Dr Gagandeep Kang Physician & scientist Radhika Santhanakrishnan Philanthropist Anuradha Krishnamoorthy & Namrata Sundaresan Entrepreneurs Dr P Poorna Chandrika Medical professional Vijayalakshmi Nachiar Entrepreneur Priyadarsini Govind Dancer Joshna Chinappa Sportswoman Dr Ramya S Moorthy Entrepreneur Vodafone-idea allots 33.44% stake to government The debt-ridden telco approved allotment of the equity shares to the govt in lieu of interest dues of adjusted gross revenue and spectrum auction payments Special SC bench to hear Bilkis Bano’s plea S hruti K akkar @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to constitute a special bench to hear the pleas challenging the Gujarat government’s order allowing premature release of 11 convicts sentenced to life in the Bilkis Bano case. During the 2002 Gujarat riots, Bano, who was five months pregnant, was gang-raped and seven members of her family killed. Urging the bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to list the plea, advocate Shobha Gupta said Justice Ajay Rastogi was continuously sitting in a combination of himself and Justice Bela Trivedi, who had earlier recused herself from hearing the matter. The bench, also comprising judges P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, assured Bano that the new bench will be formed at the earliest. The top court had earlier clarified that objections pertaining to locus of pleas filed by third party petitioners by one of the convicts Radhey Shyam and the Gujarat government did not arise anymore. The court also clarified that it would take up Bilkis’s plea as lead matter. “After victim’s plea comes, the issue of locus goes... Come on merits. In these cases no technicality has to follow,” Justice Rastogi had remarked while posting the pleas for February . express read SC dismisses Rana Ayyub’s plea New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed journalist Rana Ayyub’s plea challenging the summons by a Ghaziabad court in a money-laundering case. She had questioned the court’s jurisdiction saying only the special court in Maharashtra could have taken cognisance of the ED complaint as the alleged offence took place in that state she’s not true to her oath, Justice Gavai said that directing the collegium to reconsider would result in showing lack of respect for it and would also set a wrong precedent. “There are instances where persons (additional judges) have not been confirmed,” Justice Gavai said. “How can we act on conjectures and surmises? There are two consultee judges from Tamil Nadu. We’ll be setting a very wrong precedent,” he added. The SC bench also said that getting into this was akin to opening up new jurisdiction which courts have refrained from doing so.  P5 Rescue race on, Toll 6,200 Y e shi S e l i a n d M AYA N K S I NG H @ New Delhi With the toll crossing 6,200 a day after a 7.8 pre-dawn earthquake shook up Turkiye and Syria, Turkiye President, Recip Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency for three months in 10 of the worst hit provinces in his country . Amid temperatures below freezing point and over 200 aftershocks, rescuers raced against time as nearly 6,000 buildings collapsed in Turkiye alone. Not all buildings have been accessed by the rescuers yet. In the Hatay province in Turkyie where 1,500 buildings were destroyed, rescue effort was yet to begin. But in areas where teams worked, occasional cheers broke out through the night as survivors were brought out of the rubble. There were also reports of people stuck in the rubble sending videos and voice messages requesting urgent assistance and rescue. So far, over 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkiye. Amid a global scramble to rush humanitarian support, India on Indian field hospital 4 IAF C17 aircraft loads of Indian relief and rescue personnel sent to Turkyie and one to Syria Field hospital sent to Turkiye to establish a 30-bed medical facility. 45-member medical team accompanying it. It has X-ray unit, ventilators, OT and other equipment Tuesday sent five aircraft full of relief and rescue equipment, which includes NDRF search and rescue teams, medical equipment for creating a 30-bed makeshift hospital, drilling machines and dog squads. Out of the five IAF C17 aircraft, four have been sent to Turkiye and one to Syria. “PM Modi gave immediate instructions to build a crisis centre and all relevant Indian authorities had a meeting. This is an example of good friendship and we really appreciate it. We are in touch with the Indian Embassy in Ankara along with Indian authorities in Delhi,’’ Turkiye envoy Firat Sunel said. “We really appreciated the Indian heart,” Syrian envoy Bassam Seifeddin Alkhatib said. Rahul Gandhi displays a poster showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting with billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani in what looks like a chartered plane | PTI Rahul questions Adani-Modi link Accuses the BJP govt of tweaking rules to help the conglomerate win mega projects defence,” he added. Both the Lok Sabha and the FRESH from his five month- Rajya Sabha had not transactlong cross-country march, ed any business till this debate senior Congress leader Rahul in the ongoing Budget session Gandhi on Tuesday launched as the Opposition stuck to its a blistering attack on the demand for a Joint ParliamenNarendra Modi government tary Committee or Supreme and its alleged links with the Court-monitored probe into Adani group, which is facing allegations against Adani. allegations of stock manipuRahul Gandhi’s fiery speech lation and fraud. drew strong protests from Rahul’s all-out offensive BJP ministers and MPs, who against the government came asked the Congress scion to on a day when Opposition par- substantiate his ‘wild allegaties decided to end tions’ with proof. the three-day logjam The former Conin Parliament and gress president, then, take part in the modisplayed a photoIn 2014, Adani’s tion of thanks to the graph of Modi and position was 609 President’s address. Adani in an aircraft on the list of the The Wayanad MP together, wondering world’s richest. alleged that the Modi how many trips the Now he is in the government has been second place. It is duo must have taken favouring the Adani together. sheer magic group since it came “Modi goes to AusRahul Gandhi to power in 2014. He tralia and the next also accused the Cenday SBI gives a $1 biltre of changing rules to help lion loan to Adani. He goes to Adani acquire airports. Bangladesh and the Bangla“There was a rule that only desh Power Development a company or person with ex- Board signs a 25-year contract perience in airports be given with Adani,” he alleged, dethe responsibility of develop- manding answers to his quesing airports. But, the govern- tions from the PM in his ment changed the rules for speech on Wednesday . the Adani group and six airIn his 40-minute-long speech ports were handed over to in the Lok Sabha, Rahul also him. Adani now dominates sought to know how much several sectors such as ports, money Adani has given to the airports, cement, media and BJP in the past 20 years. P r e e tha Nair @ New Delhi