Plea for SIT probe into charges against registrar of South Chennai

CHENNAI: A writ plea has been made in the Madras High Court to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the corruption charges against P Sivapriya, District Registrar of South Chennai.
The first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar, before which the PIL came up last week, issued notice to Sivapriya and to the government, returnable by November 27.

Petitioner alleged that the officer had amassed wealth to the tune of `100 crore. The registration department was the axis for running the government and which generated a huge revenue for the exchequer. But it had lost major portion of revenue due to actions and omissions committed by officers like Sivapriya. She was involved in tampering records to register property located on waterways and waterbodies for monetary consideration, the petitioner said.

The petitioner further alleged that the officer had created a document with regard to the property of one Balu Chettiyar and in another case, she prepared a will in the name of one Chandra, who was suffering from cancer and registered the same as if the woman herself created it and appeared for registration.

State told to make law to regulate PTAs

Chennai: Holding that time has come to enact a law to form and regulate Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in all schools in the State in the interest of students and for development of education, the Madras High Court has directed the State government to frame the necessary rules. Justice N Kirubakaran gave the directive while passing interim orders on a writ petition from M Natesan, president of PTA attached to Maniyanur Government High School in Salem, last week.

The petition prayed for a direction to the Chief Educational Officer, Salem district, and the school headmaster from removing the office-bearers of the PTA under his presidentship, till the completion of their tenure. The judge noted that there was no Act, by which a PTA could be established in each and every school in the State mandatorily. If the rules were framed and PTAs established in all schools, there will be some persons to address the grievances of students.

According to petitioner, who was the deputy mayor of Salem Corporation, he was elected as president of PTA in the school in 2016, for five years. While so, the local MLA Sakthivel had suggested various names to replace the existing office-bearers of PTA, but petitioner refused. Hence, the present petition.

‘Include AERB rep in team to inspect beach sand storage’

Chennai: A representative of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) should also be present during the inspection of storage places of V V Minerals, Beach Mineral Sand Company and Miracle Sands and Chemicals, the first bench of the Madras High Court has said.

When a suo-motu PIL and other writ petitions and writ appeals came up before the Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar last week, Additional Advocate-General said a joint inspection has been proposed from November 6 to 9 for physical verification and assessment of monazite enriched tailings in the storage places of V V Minerals and other companies.

Earlier, the Bench was told that a meeting was conducted by a special team headed by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) managing director on October 30 and 31, in connection with the finalisation of the report on the assessment of the beach sand heavy minerals stored in various places in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari districts. It was stated that monazite enriched tailings were stored in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts, owned by V V Minerals, Beach Mineral Sand Company and Miracle Sands and Chemicals.