The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to undertake a thorough inspection of charitable institutions in the State and ascertain whether they are functioning for the welfare of the poor, needy and deserving and initiate action in the event of any contra facts.
Chennai:
Justice SM Subramaniam’s directive came while setting aside a plea from Sundaram Medical Foundation (SMF), which runs Dr Rangarajan Memorial Hospital at Anna Nagar, seeking exemption from paying property tax, water tax and sewage charges to city Corporation and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) as it was a charitable trust.
Holding that the hospital is predominantly providing services to rich and affluent, Justice Subramaniam said: “This court is inclined to draw factual inference that SMF is providing free medical services to the poor, needy and deserving people restrictedly and to the limited extent to retain the free land allotted by the government.”
“The value of the land in Anna Nagar location is running into several crores. Such valuable land is allotted free of cost in favour of SMF to run the medical institution and under the guise of maintenance of the building and other infrastructures, the petitioners are collecting huge charges from the patients and providing least services to the poor and needy,” the judge said.
Further pointing out that SMF has accepted that they are giving only 15 per cent of the free medical treatment for the poor, the court held that tax exemption cannot be considered. “Under the guise of running a charitable institution, if huge collections are made for the services provided, then one cannot trust upon the genuineness of the charitable institutions, ” Justice Subramaniam held while dismissing SMF’s plea.
SMF had contended that it was created by a Deed of Declaration of Trust in 1990 for setting up a hospital to provide free and concessional treatment based on which the government in 1992 allotted 2542 sq.m plot at Anna Nagar. But despite them writing to the Corporation and CMWSSB that it is a charitable hospital and ought to be exempted under Section 101 (e) of the CCMC Act, they were issued demand notices in 2002 and in 2005. Later, with a spate of litigations going against SMF, the authorities sent a demand notice on May 16, 2017, directing it to pay Rs 1.07 crore which resulted in the present appeal.
Judge takes expert help to understand same-sex ties
Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court, who had sought to break his preconceived notions about same-sex relationship and pass an order revealing his true and honest feelings about the same has decided to subject himself to psychoeducation session with a professional to understand same-sex relationships better.
Observing that “I want to give myself some more time to churn...the words must come from my heart and not from my head, and the same will not be possible if I am not fully ‘woke’ on this aspect,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh said, “I honestly feel that such a session with a professional will help me understand same-sex relationships better and will pave way for my evolution.”
“If I write an order after undergoing psycho-education, I trust the words will fall from my heart,” he said responding to the petitioner’s request to issue certain guidelines to deal with cases of similar nature so that persons involved in same-sex relationships are treated with dignity and their safety is also ensured.
The court also recorded the submissions of counselling psychologist Vidhya Dinakaran that the girls perfectly understand the relationship they have entered into and there is no confusion in their minds.
“They have a lot of love and affection for their parents and their only fear is that they may be coerced into separation. But such a scenario will cause a lot of mental trauma to the petitioners,” the report said.
But the parents are more concerned about the stigma attached and the consequences on their family along with concern about the safety and security of their respective daughters.
“One more interesting observation that has been made in the report is that the parents would rather prefer daughters live a life of celibacy, which according to them will be more dignified than having a partner of the same sex. They also have serious confusions regarding the lineage, adoption and other normal consequences that follow a heterosexual relationship and as to how the same would apply in a case of a same-sex relationship,” Justice Anand Venkatesh recorded while directing the parents to undergo one more round of counselling.
“It must be seen as to how far the earlier counselling has impacted the minds of the parents. The evolution cannot take place overnight and it requires continuous effort to bring in a change,” Justice Anand Venkatesh added.
Consider plea for economic stimulus packages, govt told
The Madras High Court has 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 on Tuesday while disposing of a PIL petition from advocate S Kalimuthu Mylavan. The PIL prayed for a direction to the State and central governments to consider the petitioner’s April 16 representation to constitute high-level panels at state, national levels to sanction stimulus packages to workers in the private and unorganised sectors, who have lost jobs and suffered pay cuts, as was being done in the UK and US.
The petitioner submitted that it is the fundamental right of the citizens to work and the lockdown announced by the governments was a restriction imposed on them, curbing their right to work and right to livelihood guaranteed under the Constitution.
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