No new law for doctors’ safety Govt has no plan to bring in a separate law to check violence against healthcare professionals, Union health minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya told Rajya Sabha Healthcare Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill is no longer under consideration, he clarified Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Act has provisions to protect doctors chennai l wednesday l february 08, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late 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 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 11 achievers to get Devi Awards today 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.  P7 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 Sentence remission 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 Govt gets 33.44% stake in Vodafone Idea New Delhi: Debt-ridden telco Vodafone Idea on Tuesday approved allotment of equity shares worth `16,133 crore to the government, which will now the largest shareholder in the firm with 33.44% stake. The shares have been allocated in lieu of conversion of interest dues arising from deferment of adjusted gross revenue and spectrum auction payments 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 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.  P7 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 Rescue race on, Toll 7,100 Adani-Modi link Y e shi S e l i & M AYA N K S I NG H @ New Delhi With the toll crossing 7,100 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 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.  MIracle baby: P13 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 Accuses the BJP govt of tweaking rules to help the conglomerate win mega projects P r e e tha Nair @ New Delhi FRESH from his five monthlong cross-country march, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on the Narendra Modi government and its alleged links with the Adani group, which is facing allegations of stock manipulation and fraud. Rahul’s offensive against the government came on a day when Opposition parties decided to end the three-day logjam in Parliament and take part in the motion of thanks to the President’s address. He alleged that the government favoured the Adani group since it came to power in 2014. He also accused the Centre of changing rules to help Adani acquire airports. “There was a rule that only a company or person with experience in airports be given the responsibility of developing airports. But, the government changed the rules for the Adani group and six airports were handed over to him. Adani now dominates several sectors such as ports, airports, cement, media and defence,” he added. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha had not transacted any business till this debate in the ongoing Budget session as the Opposition stuck to its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee or Supreme Court-monitored probe into allegations against Adani. Rahul’s fiery speech drew strong protests from BJP ministers and MPs, who asked the Congress scion to substantiate his ‘wild allegations’ with proof. He, then, displayed a photo of Modi and Adani in an aircraft together, wondering how many trips the duo would have taken together. “Modi goes to Australia and the next day SBI gives a $1 billion loan to Adani. He goes to Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Power Development Board signs a 25-year contract with Adani,” he alleged, demanding answers to his questions from the PM in his speech on Wednesday .