TN This Week: Apex Court Said Guv Ravi’s Inexplicable Delay a “Serious Concern”

Tamil Nadu on Friday expanded the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam (Rs 1,000 monthly assistance to women heads of families) by inducting another 7.35 lakh women into the program, which is dubbed one of the biggest Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes.

The Supreme Court on Friday said the “constitutional deadlock” created by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi and threatening to bring administration in the State to a grinding halt was a “serious concern”. The court noted that the governor has been inexplicably delaying or has even failed to consider and assent to 12 crucial Bills passed by the Legislature and stymieing day-to-day governance.

In a major relief to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK) general secretary, Edappadi K Palaniswami, the Madras High Court on Tuesday granted an interim injunction restraining expelled leader O Panneerselvam from claiming to be the coordinator or even a primary member of the party. It also prevented him from using the party’s official letterhead, the ‘two leaves’ symbol and flag.

The Madras High Court on Friday ordered notices to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker and the Secretary seeking a direction to recognise R B Udhayakumar and ‘Agri’ S S Krishnamurthy as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Secretary of AIADMK Legislature Party. The order was on a writ petition filed by Leader of the Opposition K Palaniswami.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madras High Court (HC) by AIADMK IT wing joint secretary R Nirmal Kumar, alleging that the formation of a fact-check unit by the DMK government will censor free speech and have a chilling effect on people. Last month, the Tamil Nadu government quietly issued an order to set up a fact-check unit in Chennai, which will comprise 80 staff members.

In response to recent income tax raids at his residence, Tamil Nadu Public Works Department Minister EV Velu said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot deter them from serving the people.

BJP members should be grateful to the Kanathur police for having recently removed a 55-foot-tall flag pole outside the residence of its State president, K Annamalai, in Chennai since it would have otherwise damaged the underground sewerage line and let the sewage flow into his house, the Madras High Court said on Friday. The judge pointed out the absurdity of wanting a 55-foot-tall flag pole.

A sessions court on Monday extended Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji's remand till November 22. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate earlier in connection with a money laundering case.

The Tamil Nadu government has accorded formal sanction to prosecute Balveer Singh, who allegedly subjected several accused people to custodial torture. Several victims accused him of removing their teeth with pliers, rubbing stones on their teeth, and crushing their testicles.

The state recorded the highest number of road accidents on its network of National Highways in 2022, with 64,105 accidents. The State saw 17,884 fatalities due to road accidents, according to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) statistics.

Tamil Nadu’s overall immunisation coverage has crossed 95%. Every year, 9.15 lakh children and 10 lakh pregnant women are covered under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP), and 3.2 crore vaccines worth nearly Rs 10 crore are provided in the State, according to the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine.

Around 6.5 lakh heavy vehicles and 25 lakh light heavy vehicles went off the road from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday in protest against the Tamil Nadu government increasing the quarter-year tax for the lorries by 40%

Open-End (OE) spinning mills in Tirupur and Coimbatore halted production on Tuesday, unable to withstand the rising cost of raw material, decreasing yarn price and market slowdown. Read more

Headload workers at TASMAC’s alcohol godowns held demonstrations across Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, demanding a wage hike. The protest was called after several rounds of talks with the TASMAC management and many protests. The TASMAC administration has not given a hike to the workers since 2020. Read more

As the northeast monsoon intensified in Tamil Nadu, various districts, including Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Madurai, Theni, and Dindigul, declared holidays to schools on different days.