When the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha was sent to jail by a judicial process, there was violence all over the State of Tamil Nadu. MLAs and MPs camped in Bengaluru to pressurise the judiciary to release the convicted leader on bail. Although the vacation judge of the High Court of Karnataka admitted the petition filed by the ex-Chief Minister, the judge fixed the hearing of the case for 6th of October. However, lawyers representing the ex-Chief Minister almost succeeded in getting a favourable judgement by requesting the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court for an early hearing of the case. The Chief Justice succumbed to the demand and constituted a special one-member bench to hear the case. However, the designated judge refused to hear the case and posted the case for regular hearing on 7th October. When the bench refused to budge, the lawyers representing the ex-Chief Minister shouted slogans against the judge and sat in dharna in front of the High Court. The MLAs and MPs from Tamil Nadu are observing hunger strike against the conviction of their ex-Chief Minister. Is ex-Chief Minster above the law of the land? Should not contempt proceedings be initiated against the lawyers who shouted slogans against the presiding judge and staged dharna in front of the High Court? The Karnataka government should book all those who indulged in unlawful activities in Karnataka in the wake the conviction of the ex-Chief Minister of TN.
SND Poojary, Miramar
Chak-De India
It was a historic day for Indian hockey as a spirited India outclassed arch-rivals Pakistan 4-2 in a nerve-wrecking penalty shoot-out to regain the Asian Games men’s hockey gold medal after a gap of 16 long years. In the process the men-in-blue also sealed a direct entry into the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Incidentally, the gold medal was just the third won by India in Asian Games in hockey since the game made its debut in 1958 in Tokyo. It must be said that the Indian team played in such a fantastic manner that they should have won the game in the regulation time itself. The penalty shoot-out can go either way.
Nevertheless it must be said that the hero of the match was the Indian goalkeeper Shreejesh who exhibited very good reflexes to make some very fine saves. India has a very young men’s hockey team and should build up in due course to go for gold in the Summer Olympics two years from now.
The Asian gold medal should come as great boost as the country is in the process of building a team of the future. Hopefully the team will bring back the glorious days of Indian hockey of the past and rule world men’s hockey having given the world players like Dyan Chand and Dhanraj Pillay among others. Chak-De India.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
‘Tatkal’ system unfair
The Indian Railways’ proposal to increase tatkal charges for some popular trains is unfair to the travelling public. In the first place the very concept of levying ‘Tatkal’ charges by a monopolistic public sector undertaking appears to be unethical and needs to be vetted in the court of law, by recourse to a PIL.
Moreover, the tatkal system is grossly unfair to wait-listed passengers, as logically they should be given first preference in allotment of tatkal tickets, if they desire to opt for the facility. During peak season and festivals, a passenger may not get a confirmed ticket even if the ticket was booked 60 days in advance. It is most unfair that someone gets a confirmed tatkal ticket just one day before departure of the train.
The Railways must provide an option in the reservation form so that wait-listed passengers may indicate their option to switch to tatkal if the ticket is not confirmed one day prior to departure of train. Those who opt for this facility must be given first allotment from the tatkal quota. The difference in fare may be collected by the TTE.
Prof Robert Castellino, Calangute
