Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Apr 29 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Thursday pulled up the Centre over its alleged lapse in taking prompt action in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, wondering what it was doing for 14 months.

Chief Justice Sanjeeb Banerjee said there was a need to act on expert advice and not adhocism.

"Why are we acting only now in April, though we had one full year?" the CJ asked, when Additional Solicitor General R Sankaranarayanan told the court that the resurgence of the second wave of the virus was 'unexpected'.

Madurai, Apr 29 (PTI) The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday rejected a plea from a Christian to hold prayer meetings at his residential building, saying even a religious right cannot be claimed to be absolute.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh dismissed the petition from T Wilson of Aruvikarai village in Kanyakumari district.

The judge said that the moment the exercise of such a right affects the rights of others, it must be subjected to reasonable restriction.

Chennai, Apr 27 (PTI): The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and state government to consider a plea to provide economic stimulus packages for employees of private and unorganised sectors who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy gave a direction to this effect while disposing of a PIL petition from advocate S Kalimuthu Mylavan.

Chennai, Apr 26 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Monday came down hard on the Election Commission and called it the "the most irresponsible institution" for the alleged spread of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.

In stinging remarks, the court said EC officials may be booked under murder charges too.

Chennai, April 22 (PTI) The Madras High Court was on Thursday informed by the Tamil Nadu government that the state had sufficient stocks of oxygen and Remdesivir vaccines and that the 'assigment' of life-saving gas to neighbouring states will not affect its position.

There was no shortage of Remdesivir vaccine, used in COVID-19 treatment, ventilators or oxygen cylinders in the state, Advocate General Vijay Narayan told the first bench of the Madras High Court, which took up the matter on its own.

Chennai, Apr 20 (PTI) Rejecting a charge that some deaths at a hospital in neighbouring Vellore district were due to shortage of oxygen supply, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Dr C Vijayabaskar on Tuesday claimed there was no scarcity of medical oxygen or Covid vaccines in the state.

Responding to the charge that the deaths occurred at the Adukkamparai government hospital, Vellore, as the hospital ran out of oxygen supply - as claimed made by the kin of the diseased he said, "the fatalities did not happen due to shortage of oxygen."

Erode (TN), Apr 16 (PTI): A Mahila Court here on Friday sentenced a head constable to five years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined him Rs 50,000 in a sexual harassment case involving a minor girl.

The prosecution case was that the nine-year-old girl of Sulure, Coimbatore district, was sleeping in a moving train when the policeman sexually harassed her.

The girl raised an alarm and her parents, along with co-passengers, got up and caught the head constable.

The incident happened on the night of September 1, 2018.

Chennai, Apr 4 (PTI) The high octane campaign for the April 6 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections ended on Sunday at 7 pm, with the stage now set for the polling on April 6 which will decide whether it will a hat-trick of terms for the AIADMK or the return of DMK after a decade in opposition.

As many as 3,998 candidates, including Chief Minister K Palaniswami, his deputy O Panneerselvam, DMK President MK Stalin, AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran, actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan, Naam Tamizhar Katchi leader Seeman and BJP state unit chief L Murugan are in the fray.

Coimbatore, Apr 3 (PTI): A total of 14 workers of two political parties were arrested for allegedly distributing cash to voters in two areas here on Saturday, police said.

Based on information, the police went to an area in Coimbatore south constituency where they caught 12 BJP workers distributing the money to residents.

A sum of Rs 46,000 was seized from them and six two- wheelers were impounded, the police said.

Chennai, Apr 3 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday held a road show here, canvassing votes for BJP's Thousand Lights candidate Khushbu Sundar for the April 6 Assembly elections.

The BJP veteran travelled atop an open van with Sundar and AIADMK candidates from nearby constituencies at the well- attended roadshow.

Amid chants of 'Bharat Mata ki jai' and fluttering flags of alliance parties being carried by the respective outfits, Shah attended the road show in the last leg of the campaign, which ends tomorrow, here.