Teacher's Training on Mega Scale

The Indian Express, 26-06-2012, p.07 ::


Please visit the following link for more information.http://epaper.indianexpress.com/44243/Indian-Express-Mumbai/26-June-2012#page/7/2 

Now, you can ‘digest’ full bench RTI decisions Ashutosh Shukla

At last, there will be some quick, ready reference material relating to the orders of the Central Information Commission (CIC)for a group of RTI activists has taken it upon itself to bring out a digest on the full-bench CIC orders which has already gone to print. The book, Digest of Full Bench Decisions of Central Information Commission, which has nearly 51 full bench orders between 2007 and 2011, is due to be released by state chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad on June 26. In 2012, no full bench order was taken up for hearing. While the full-bench decisions by the CIC can always be looked up on its website (http://cic.gov.in), the book seeks to fill in the gaps by including value-added information like notes on every order. “These tell if the full-bench orders have been challenged in court as also their current status, so that a reader can gauge the order’s usefulness and the corresponding court rulings,” said co-author Narayan Varma, also trustee of the Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT), which along with Bombay Chartered Accountants Society (BACS) is publishing the book. Earlier, PCGT had come out with RTI-related books, but only on decisions of import and frequently asked questions. “Another highlight is that the reader can sift through the orders related to one particular section of the RTI Act as indexing and referencing has also been done as per sections,” said Varma. Apart from Varma, the book has been authored by advocate Anil Asher, Ambrose D’Cruz, a law student. “It is a precis of all the crucial orders, as we wanted to give the essence of the rulings, however, accompanied by important arguments,” said Asher. “Though legally important, the full-bench orders are not binding on other (state) commissions, but they do form a persuasive value when referred to by an applicant. To make things easier, we have also put up a gist of each case as part of an index,” said D’Cruz. SOurce:::: DNA, 26-06-2012, p.08 :: http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=20728&boxid=12034&ed_date=2012-6-26&ed_code=820009&ed_page=8

IIT-B powers world’s cheapest tablet

Yogita Rao TNN 

Mumbai: Aakash 2.0 was launched on Monday at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay. Aakash 2.0 has a faster processor and a capacitive touchscreen as opposed to its previous version and a battery power which lasts for three hours. Initially, the tablets will besentonly toengineering colleges acrossthecountry. 

    HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said, (via video conference), “Aakash is no longer just a device that only consumes content. Through the efforts of IIT-B, Aakash is now a device thatcreatescontent.” 

    Aakash 2.0 has a processor of 800 megahertz against the 366 MHz of the previous version. The touchscreen is capacitive making it easy on the fingers.Thebattery power has been upgraded from 2,000 mili ampere hour (approximately less than 2 hours) to 3,200 mili amperehour (approximately 3 hours). All these features were negotiated at a price of Rs 2,263. The specifications of Aakash 2.0 were upgraded at the Aakash lab set up in the computer science and engineering department at the Powaicampus. 

    Thefirst100samplesof the device were sent for research and around150 peoplewereengaged. Aakash was earlier launchedin October 2011;however, the project failed to take off. Three months ago the project was handed over to IIT-B under Professor DBPhatak. 

    Phataksaid, “Sincethetablets in phase I is to be used by engineering students, we had to upgrade the specifications to meettheir requirements.” 

SKY IS THE LIMIT
• The new Aakash tablet has an 800MHz processing speed

• It has a capacitive touchscreen and its battery can last for up to 3 hours

Source::: The Times of India, 26-06-2012, p.04 : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

आता आठ दिवसांत पासपोर्ट!

Source:: Lokmath, 25-06-2012. :: http://marathi.yahoo.com/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%A0-%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A4-%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9F-184154760.html

No fees refund for youth who switched colleges

Shibu Thomas TNN

Mumbai: Engineering student Amit Vaidya, who jumped ship when the college of his choice offered him a seat, later found out that it was a costly gamble. The Bombay high court recently dismissed his plea to order K C College (Thane), where he had initially taken admission, to refund Rs 92,000 as fees. 

 
    “The rules seek to balance the refund of tuition fees to students who obtain more preferential allotments with the rights of managements,” said a division bench of Justices Dhananjay Chandrachud and R D Dhanuka.
    Under the rules framed by the Directorate of Technical Education, refund of tuition is provided in certain eventualities. “The rules stipulate that no refund of fees, except for the security deposit, can be granted where a request for cancellation of admission is received before or after the start of the academic session and the seat cannot be filled by the institute,” added the judges. 

    Advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, counsel for the college, said Vaidya cancelled his admission on the final cut-off date, due to which they could not admit another student for the vacant seat. “In the present case, as a result of the withdrawal by (Vaidya) from the seat allotted, the seat would remain vacant for a period of four years,” said the court, while refusing to order a refund. 

    Vaidya had sought admission in K C College and was allotted a seat in the third round of admissions on September 2, 2010. He paid tuition fees of Rs 85,800 and Rs 6,200 as stationery charges. On September 15, he sought cancellation of his admission as he had got into a college of his choice. 

 
    The college, which had no time to admit another student, refused to refund the fees. 

    Subsequently, during a hearing before the All-India Council for Technical Education, the college offered to refund 25% of the sum on humanitarian grounds. Vaidya, however, rejected the offer and moved the high court seeking afull refund. 

Source::::  The Times of India, 22-06-2012, p.07. 
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW&AW=1340341899039

Woman loses plea over hubby’s illicit relation charge

Rosy Sequeira TNN

Mumbai: The high court on Thursday upheld the divorce granted to a man whose wife alleged he had illicit relations with his sisters, saying such allegations were bound to cause him mental cruelty. 

    A division bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and A R Joshi was hearing a petition by Naina Patel challenging a family court’s December 2011 order granting divorce to her husband Nilesh, saying it was mental cruelty on her part and that she deserted her husband. The family court had said this disentitled her plea for maintenance and separate residence for herself and her daughter. 

    The judges said the decree of the family court ought to be upheld on grounds of cruelty, considering that Naina—in her response to her husband’s two letters—mentioned the alleged illicit relations between Nilesh and his sisters. “Suffice to say the same are serious and disparaging remarks,” said the judges, adding that she went on to justify it was made on the basis on her “inner feeling”. 

    “The making of such false, frivolous and unsubstantiated allegations against the husband in the communication as well reiterating the same in (a) written statement, and also in the oral evidence given by the wife before the court, was bound to cause mental cruelty to the husband,” said the judges, adding that it was a clear attempt to “sully the reputation” of Nilesh and his two sisters, a lawyer and a doctor. 

    “That is a good and germane ground(s) for dissolution of marriage,” they wrote. The judges noted that the family court had rightly concluded that Naina showed intentions to bring “cohabitation to an end” and refused to go with Nilesh and his family when they came to take her home. 

    However, the judges quashed and set aside the family court’s order disallowing Naina’s plea for maintenance and separate residence for herself and their 18-year-old daughter. They directed the court to reconsider Naina’s plea afresh. (Names changed to protect identities).

Source::::  The Times of India, 22-06-2012, p.07. 
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW&AW=1340341899039

Admission For F.Y. LL.B. Course:

The admission for First Year LL.B. course has started for the Academic Year 2012-13. The interested students may contact the College Office between 10.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. from 15th June 2012 onward. 

SC nixes Muslim quota, says basis seems to be only religion

Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a big blow to the UPA government’s bid to create a 4.5% minority sub-quota within the 27% OBC quota. Despite the Centre’s fervent plea, it rejected the proposal and pulled up the government for doing shoddy homework to reach the figure of 4.5% as a subquota for backward Muslim groups in government jobs and admissions to colleges, including Indian Institutes of Technology. 

    Expressing doubts about the constitutional validity of the Centre’s decision, a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar said carving out of minority sub-quota from the 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) appeared to be driven only by religionbased consideration. The Andhra Pradesh high court had quashed the Centre’s decision on May 28 on identical grounds. 

    “We are not inclined to grant interim stay of the high court judgment,” the court said. 

    It also refused to entertain the Centre’s last-ditch attempt to push the minority quota into IIT admissions because it doubted the intention behind the Centre’s decision to carve out 4.5% sub-quota for minorities from among the 27% reservation to OBCs. 

    The Centre had on December 22, 2011 decided to implement a 4.5% minority quota to benefit 82 Muslim groups included in the central list of OBCs, which together were entitled to a total of 27% reservation in jobs and admissions to central educational institutions, from January 1 this year.




Source::: The Times of India, 14-06-2012, p.01: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW&AW=1339650911531

Now, a laboratory for law graduates in Mangalore 

MANGALORE: Science students fiddling with beakers, test tubes or any other apparatus in labs is a common feature. 

Giving similar hands-on-experiment to law graduates in a first of its kind initiative for any law school in India is the law laboratory at SDM Law College and Centre for Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Law here. This lab is useful not only to law students, but also for legal professional and even for the general public.

Legal process is evidentiary in nature. Familiarity with umpteen number of documents is the lifeline for advocates.

The lab has more than 150 types of documents connected to legal profession. While students are informed about the documents in theoryclasses, most of them will get a feel of them only when they enter the profession.

A result of pain-staking efforts by BK Ravindra, the college principal, for over a year, the laboratory in its inceptional stage has already won accolades from the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC), peer committee of the Bar Council of India and the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore. Uday Kumar, professor of law, has also played an important role in enhancing the collection and setting up the lab.

"Students get to know about the documents in their classrooms. The confusion about the use of these documents that they face once they start practising law is what prompted the college to set up the lab," said Ravindra.

On display at the lab are copies of handwritten, typed and computer-generated judgments of Supreme Court and high courts. "These are rare and we managed to collect them with the help of our personal rapport with advocates and officials working there," he added.

In addition to the documents, the lab has charts pertaining to structure of courts, history of the legal institutions as well as names of legal luminaries, past and present. "This information too is very useful to law graduates," he said. 

Asked if Karnataka State Law University is planning to set up a similar lab, Ravindra, who is also the dean of KSLU said, "Setting up a lab is an expensive process and we have succeeded here only because of the support of the management."