SC stays court order awarding grace marks to NEET students
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Madurai bench of Madras High Court awarding 196 grace marks to NEET students who had opted to write the examination in Tamil language on account of error in translation. A bench of Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao stayed the order and issued notice on a plea of the CBSE challenging the high court order. The bench posted the matter for hearing after two weeks and asked the parties to come out with a solution to deal with the situation, saying, “We cannot dole out marks in this fashion”. The bench observed that it appears that after the judgment, the students who opted for the Tamil language are in the advantageous position over others. The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had on July 10 ordered the CBSE to grant 196 marks — 4 marks each for 49 erroneously translated questions — in the Tamil version of this year’s National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) to the students who took the exam in the regional language. Passing the orders on a public interest litigation, the high court had directed the CBSE to consequently revise the list of eligible candidates and publish it afresh. The petitioner, senior CPI(M) leader and Rajya Sabha MP T K Rangarajan had sought full marks for the 49 questions, saying key words in Tamil questions were wrongly translated from English and this caused confusion among the students. (PTI)
Pavement outside GK metro station caves in after rainfall
New Delhi: A portion of a pavement outside the underground Greater Kailash metro station caved in early today due to accumulation of water after heavy rainfall, a DMRC official said. “GK is a low-lying area having regular drainage issues. Repair of the caved-in portion is in progress and the affected area will be restored by tomorrow morning,” the official said, using an acronym for Greater Kailash. However, metro services were not affected on Botanical Garden–Janakpuri West Magenta Line, on which the station falls. “The DMRC is now filling below the road with additional concrete to avoid the recurrence of this problem in future,” the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official added. The metro station was opened for public in May this year. (PTI)
Huge consignment of foreign liquor seized in ‘dry’ Bihar
Supaul: Police seized huge consignment of foreign liquor from a pick-up van near Deenapatti village under Pipra police station area in the district late last night. Police said here that 125 cartons of Nepalese liquor were seized from the pick-up van when it was searched on Supaul-Pipra road following specific intelligence input. Sources said that peddlers made good their escape by abandoning vehicle on the spot. Raids are on to nab bootleggers, sources added. (UNI)
58 women suffer suspected food poisoning in Mumbai jail
Mumbai: At least 58 inmates of the women’s jail in Byculla were rushed to the hospital on Friday morning due to suspected food poisoning, officials said. A majority of the women complained of severe abdominal pain, vomiting and dehydration and were rushed to the government-run Sir J.J. Hospital here. Their condition was now “stable”, said Dr Wiqar Shaikh who is heading the team treating them. The women’s jail houses nearly 210 inmates. The cause of the suspected food poisoning is being investigated. “This morning, several women prisoners complained of vomiting and dehydration and were examined by health officials. Later, they were referred to the hospital where they are now under observation. There were no complaints from male prisoners or jail staff,” Inspector-General of Police (Prisons) Rajvardhan Sinha said. Sinha said till mid-morning around 58 women inmates/undertrials were admitted to the hospital. (IANS)
Fake mark sheet, degree gang busted in UP
Meerut: Police here have busted a gang which used to provide fake mark sheets of class 10, 12, B.A, B.Tech, Pharmacy and MBA, officials said on Friday. Five persons, including a former secretary of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) — the youth wing of Congress, have been arrested in this connection, police said. A police officer said the gang used to provide fake mark sheets, diplomas and other degrees for students for varsities spread over Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. One laptop, 133 degrees, five mobile phones, a sports utility vehicle (SUV) and two colour printers have also been seized from the gang members, who have been sent to jail after interrogation. They have been identified as Uma Shankar, Ajay, Anil Kumar, Rajesh and Salman. Most of them are from the NCR. (IANS)
Dalit prevented from cooking at Tamil Nadu school
Coimbatore: A dalit woman was prevented from cooking for students of a school in Tamil Nadu as part of the noon meal scheme and shifted under pressure from members of an upper caste, prompting the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to summon senior officials of Tirupur district. P Pappal, who was posted as a cook at Ochampalayam village in Tirupur district for the last two years, was shifted to the government primary school in her native Thirumalaigoundanpalayam village a week ago at her request. Some upper caste Hindus belonging to the Gounder community protested against her posting as she was a Dalit, police said. (PTI)
SC denies bail to teen accused of killing minor student
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday denied bail to a minor accused of killing a 7-year-old boy of a private school in Gurugram district in Haryana. A bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Indu Malhotra rejected the contention that as the CBI had not filed its chargesheet within 60 days, the accused should be released on bail. The court said the 16-year-old accused student has been booked in a heinous offence under Section 302 of IPC and that the time-limit for filing the chargesheet was 90 days, not 60 days. On June 6, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had dismissed the bail plea of the accused. The Sessions Court and Juvenile Justice Board too had denied him bail. Dismissing his plea, the high court had upheld the CBI argument that the case falls in the category where period of filing the chargesheet is 90 days. (IANS)