The Most Backward Class Reservation Protection Committee (MBCRPC) here today urged the Puducherry Administration to take immediate steps to implement 67 per cent reservation in the Union Territory.

In a statement here, Mr G Sugumaran, Committee member and Secretary of the Federation for People’s Rights, pointed out the Supreme Court direction that state governments could provide more than 50 per cent reservation after hearing the views of the Backward Class Commission.

He said the administration should enact a legislation to provide 20 per cent reservation for BC, 30 per cent for MBC, 16 per cent for SC and one per cent for ST (total 67) and implement it after taking the President’s nod.

Thanking the government for announcing two per cent reservation for the Muslims from the Backward Class quota and two per cent for fishermen from the MBC quota, Mr Sugumaran urged the government to issue government order forthwith so that it could be implemented from the current academic year itself.

UNI / 20.08.2010

The Federation for People’s Rights (FPR) here today urged the administration to ensure total re-counselling for admissions to professional courses by the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) in the wake of Madras High Court judgement scrapping reservation of seats for Puducherry region.

In a statement, Federation Secretary G Sugumaran blamed the government for the order saying it did not produce proper documents before the court justifying reservation.

Asking the Puducherry Administration to shoulder responsibility for scrapping of reservation, Mr Sugumaran quoted the judgement that said, ”In the absence of any material placed before this court to justify the reservation of 75 per cent of the seats for the Puducherry region, we are inclined to hold that such reservation is bad in law.

”Accordingly, the reservation in respect of 75 per cent seats for the Puducherry region requires to be set aside.” Mr Sugumaran also alleged the government of failing to give any advice to the Additional Solicitor General who appeared on behalf of the government.

UNI / 11.08.2010

Puducherry, Aug 11 (PTI) In the wake of Madras High court recently setting aside the 75 per cent reservation quota for Puducherry region, Puducherry based Federation for People`s Rights has asked the territorial government to notify fresh counselling for students who could not appear earlier for admission to professional courses under government quota. Secretary of the Federation Mr. G. Sugumaran said in a release here today that the quashing of the quota for `Puducherry region` had in its wake made invalid another component in the decision of the government. Sugumaran said when the 75 percent quota was sought to be implemented for admission to professional colleges during the current academic year the administration through Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) laid down a condition that a student should have done school education continuously for three preceeding years in Pondicherry region. “With the quota itself being set aside this condition of continuous school education in Puducherry also gets quashed,” he said. Students who had done the course outside Union Territory (despite being residents of Puducherry) could not either become eligible for selection for admission or had not applied for the courses. The government should now call for applications from such students, Sugumaran said.

PTI / 11.08.2010

Puducherry, Aug. 1 — The Federation for People’s Rights here today urged the administration to initiate criminal action against some police personnel including a Sub-Inspector who allegedly assaulted Students Parents Welfare Association President Y Bala yesterday.

Federation Secretary G Sugumaran, in a statement here, said Mr Bala was assisting the parents in the counselling for Biology based courses which commenced yesterday by Centac at the Pondicherry Engineering College Pondicherry Engineering College (or PEC) is one of India’s premier engineering institutes located in the city of Pondicherry in Puducherry Union Territory.

Pondicherry Engineering College is an Institution sponsored by the Union Territory of Puducherry.  when Kalapet Sub-Inspector Velayyan and a few constables pulled him by his collar and assaulted him without any provocation Conduct by which one induces another to do a particular deed; the act of inducing rage, anger, or resentment in another person that may cause that person to engage in an illegal act. .

”This is a sheer violation of human rights,” Mr Sugumaran said, adding the administration should also make it clear who allowed the police inside the engineering college campus.

UNI / 01.08.2010

Sruthisagar Yamunan

In controversy: Road-laying works under way on Muthumariamman Koil Street in Puducherry on Thursday.

PUDUCHERRY: The road-laying works on Muthumariamman Koil Street, adjacent to the Vedapurishwarar Temple on Mahatma Gandhi Road, have kicked up a series of controversies.

Civil society organisations have demanded the immediate stoppage of work, alleging that it is in violation of the town grading plan. They allege the newly laid concrete road is a foot above the floor level of the temple courtyard and would make it impossible for rainwater to drain out. They further said that prolonged stagnation of water would weaken the foundations of the temple.

A representation was made to the Chief Secretary by the organisations on Thursday, requesting his direction to rework the plan and stop the ongoing works.

The road-laying works have been taken up by the Puducherry Municipality with the help of MLA constituency development funds. The proposal and tenders were issued last year and the works began in June.

According to a senior municipality official, the stormwater drains in the temple have been designed in such a way that most of the rainwater flows into the temple tank. The remaining water that used to stagnate would usually be pumped out into Muthumariamman Koil Street from where it would run through M.G. Road and connect to the canal near the Ajanta Theatre.

After the NGOs raised the issue with the administration, a separate ‘hot-line’ to drain out the rainwater from the temple and connect it to M.G. Road was laid, the official said. The temple courtyard had traditionally been below the road level and it was after the request of the residents, who complained of water stagnation on the streets, that the new road was laid.

But, according to G. Sugumaran, member of Alliance for Good Governance, an umbrella organisation of various civil society groups, the drains to which the hot-line connects are also at a higher level and if there was stagnation on M.G. Road, the water would run back through the pipes and flood the courtyard. He said that when the Joint Engineer of the municipality was asked to assure that such flooding would not happen, he refused.

Mr. Sugumaran also said that when this issue was taken up with the Chief Town Planner, they were told that it was too late to amend the plan and the NGOs should have brought the issue to their notice earlier.

Terming the allegations “bizarre,” Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Cassicade constituency K. Lakshmi Narayanan said the residents of the area have not raised any apprehensions about the road-laying works and all norms have been followed in the process of laying the roads.

The executive officer of the temple, Dananjayan, told The Hindu that there was no water-logging inside the temple and extra precautions have been taken after the NGOs brought the issue to their notice.

A fact-finding team of various human rights organisations visited Uthapuram village in Madurai district and Dombucheri village in Theni district on Sunday for assessing the situation in the wake of allegations of caste atrocities and police excesses against Dalits.

The team, comprising writer A. Marx, M. Sivagurunathan, K. Palanisamy and Rajni of the People’s Union for Human Rights; G. Sugumaran, secretary, Federation for People’s Rights Puducherry; S. Kochadai, People’s Education Organisation; M. Barakathulla, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, Dindigul; and Viduthalai Veeran, Adi Tamizhar Peravai, conducted interviews with Ravichandran, Inspector of Police, Elumalai, and the Dalits.

The team said that in Uthapuram the pathway created after a portion of the ‘untouchability’ wall was demolished was not fully accessible to the Dalits for moving freely, as there were frequent objections from caste Hindus. This, they alleged, was taking place with the State’s connivance. After the intervention of MLAs of Communist Party of India led by K. Balabharathi on June 21, the Dalits were once taken for a ride in autorickshaw, which was nothing but tokenism.

Even after funds were allotted under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme of CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP T.K. Rangarajan, the demand for the construction of the bus shelter had been shelved citing law and order problems and this move was condemnable, the team said.

In Dombucheri village, a clash erupted on June 23 following a dispute over carrying the body of a caste Hindu who had married a Dalit, through the caste Hindu area. Following this, both the attackers and the Dalits who were targeted were arrested.

The team visited the village and held discussions with the Panchayat president, caste Hindus and Dalits and found that there was a polemical divide with various sub-castes of caste Hindus on one side and sub-castes of Dalits on the other. The Dalits demanded a separate pathway to their burial grounds.
Casteism

The team said that casteism was highly prevalent in Theni, Bodi Thevaram Elumalai and Usilampatti areas and the State machinery in the form of police and Revenue Departments were anti-Dalit and conniving with the dominant castes.

They recommended that the State government take note of this and make sure that Dalits and members of castes other than the dominant castes of the locality be replaced with the existing staff on a mutual transfer. Following the recommendations of the Scheduled Caste and Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989, the State should form committees in all these villages to monitor caste discrimination.

The State government should completely demolish the ‘untouchability’ wall in Uthapuram and immediately construct the bus shelter and drainage system and allow Dalits to participate in temple festivals.
Create new pathway

The team also demanded that a new pathway be established by the district administration on a war footing. They demanded action against the police who had failed to book the caste Hindus who attacked the Dalits, under the SC/ST Act.

The Hindu / 06.07.2010

PUDUCHERRY, June 24 — NGOs from Puducherry and Tamil Nadu are fighting together for the premature release of prisoners in the UT. Puducherry-based Federation for People’s Rights and People’s Union for Human Rights from Chennai have been requesting the Puducherry government to release the life convicts who have completed seven years of prison term in view of the Tamil conference at Coimbatore, for which the TN government had announced that 500 life convicts would be released prematurely.

“A GO was issued in 1999 and another in 2003 by the National Human Rights Commission to the State Chief Secretaries of every state giving guidelines guidelines, to release a life-convict, who has completed seven years, or a prisoner who is aged 65 and has completed seven years of his prison term. Based on this, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have released several prisoners,” said A Marx, head of the Puducherry chapter of People’s Union for Human Rights. He listed that in Tamil Nadu, 472 prisoners were released in 2006 and 190 prisoners in 2007 (life convicts, who have completed 10 years in prison), 1409 prisoners in 2008 and 10 in 2009 (for completing seven years of prison term).

G Sugumaran, Federation for People’s Rights, explained that in Puducherry so far 11 prisoners were released. This includes the pre-mature release of 11 prisoners who have completed 14 years. Later, another life convict who had put in the same number of years was also released.

“Puducherry Central Prison has about 78 life convicts, out of which 43 prisoners have completed seven years. We are only demanding that the prisoners be released as per the guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission, which would consider their conduct and release them accordingly. Also, according to the report filed by the then IG Shyam Sundar, of the 1409 prisoners released in 2008 in Tamil Nadu, only seven have been jailed again and that too for petty offences,” he said.

The New Indian express / 24.06.2010

Alleging widespreaded corruption in the appointment of contract teachers here, the Federation for People’s Rights today demanded a CBI probe into it.

In a statement here today, Federation Secretary G Sugumaran alleged the marks obtained by several candidates were altered to accommodate those ”close” to authorities.

Mr Sugumaran cited an example of Pazhaniyammal whose marks were altered as 44.1203 from 44.6203, originally posted in the website, to accommodate one Kumudam by altering her score to 44.1817 from 43.7817.

When Pazhaniyammal approached the Director of Education, she was informed that a wrong marksheet was posted on the website and all of a sudden, the new marklist was posted.

Mr Sugumaran also said several organisations pointed out to the alleged corruption to the Director of Education.

Instead of correcting it, appointment orders were issued to the selected candidates based on the marks.

He demanded the appointment orders issued be scrapped and a re-examination conducted.

Action should be taken against the Director of Education and officials involved, failing which, the federation would organise agitation with the support of the people.

UNI / 16.06.2010

Puducherry, May 11 : Hailing the CBI for arresting the culprit in the murder of Jayaraman, a data entry operator of the Pondicherry University, the Federation for People’s Rights here today urged the CBI officials to arrest all those involved in the crime.

In a release here, Federation Secretary G Sugumaran pointed out that Jayaraman was murdered in 2008 for bringing to light the mark sheet scam at the university.

The CBI had yesterday arrested an employee of the examination wing of the university Kanniyappan and remanded him to custody.

The arrest of Kanniyappan has brought a ray of hope that justice would be rendered in this case, he added.

Jayaraman had brought to light the mark sheet scandal at the university, following which he was found murdered with his hands and legs tied, in a bush in 2008.

As there was no progress in the case with the local police, the case was handed over to the CBI.

The CBI had already arrested Kanniyappan in connection with the mark sheet scandal and he is now on bail.

UNI / 11.05.2010

The Puducherry-based Federation for peoples Rights today thanked the government for issuing orders providing one per cent reservation for scheduled tribes here in employment and education, classifying them as “backward tribes”.

In a statement here, Federation secretary G Sugumaran said that this was a victory for the ST people who were struggling for more than 25 years to achieve their rights.

He urged the administration to continue its efforts with the centre to get them recognized as ‘Scheduled Tribes” (STs).

He also urged the administration to take immediate steps to issue GOs providing separate reservation for the Muslims and fishermen in the Union Territory.

UNI / 13.04.2010