Kerala - Kochi   

Paloli told not to use official machinery

Kochi: The State Election Commission on Friday informed the Kerala High Court that it had asked Minister for Local Self-Government Paloli Mohammed Kutty to avoid using official machinery while attending election meetings.

In a letter addressed to the Minister's office, the commission said it was not desirable for the Minister to attend meetings using the official machinery in view of the prevailing code of conduct for polls.

The letter said it had received an inquiry report from the Malappuram Collector saying that the Minister had participated in a party meeting using his official machinery. The inquiry was ordered on the basis of complaints that the Minister had violated the poll code by attending a party meeting in Malappuram, using his official car.

Self-financing rank list

Justice Antony Dominic on Friday directed the Kerala Christian Professional College Management Federation to file an affidavit in response to a writ petition seeking a directive to publish the rank list for admission to the MBBS course in the self-financing medical colleges under the federation.

The petitioner, Aysha Haleema Kandoth of Kozhikode, contended that the rank list was prepared in violation of the Medical Council of India regulations. As per the regulations, the selection of students should be made solely on the basis of merit of the candidates. An entrance test should be conducted to have a uniform evaluation of merit.

However, the colleges under the federation had admitted students on the basis of inter-se merit determined by adding marks obtained by them in the entrance test conducted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations to the marks secured for physics, chemistry and biology in the qualifying examination.

Therefore, the selection process was against the MCI regulations. The petitioner sought to quash the selection and admission made to the MBBS course in these colleges.

Vacates verdict

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court vacated a single judge's verdict upholding the cancellation of appointments to the posts of watchman in the Travancore Devaswom Board.

The Bench comprising Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair and Justice K. Surendra Mohan passed the judgment while allowing appeals filed by some of the candidates who were appointed to the post.

The list of candidates was prepared after conducting written test in November 2005. The board had cancelled appointments in 2007, fearing that the Justice Paripoornanan Commission might report that the selection was illegal.

The commission later held that the selection was improper and illegal. The commission found fault with the selection process as no physical fitness test was conducted before the final list of candidates was published.

The judges said the notification inviting application for appointments did not visualise any physical ability test.

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