Towns and Cities

‘Married women can also get compassionate appointment’

Wednesday, 10 April 2013 10:58 administrator

The New Indian Express 10.04.2013

Observing that there cannot be any discrimination between sons and daughters in case of giving appointments on compassionate ground, the Madurai Bench of the Madras HC has directed the State to provide a job on compassionate grounds to a married daughter of a deceased Government servant.

Allowing a petition filed by M Sudha of Orathanadu in Thanjavur district, Justice D Hari Paranthaman said that if marriage is not a bar for such appointments in the case of son, the same yardstick shall be applied in the case of daughter also.

Citing the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007, which places equal duty on both the son and daughter to take care of the parents during old age, the judge said “Therefore in the case of death of the parents, there cannot be any unequal treatment among the children based on gender.”

Petitioner submitted that her father Mathialagan was employed as Village Assistant in the Revenue Department. He died on March 31, 2011, while in service. His daughters, including the petitioner, were married at the time of his death.

Sudha approached the Thanjavur Collector seeking a job on compassionate grounds. However, the Collector declined to entertain her request citing that she was married.

CMDA to audit rainwater harvesting systems

Tuesday, 09 April 2013 10:02 administrator

The New Indian Express 09.04.2013

To achieve its goal of ensuring water security in the city, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is planning to conduct a detailed audit of the rainwater harvesting system across Chennai. This comes in the wake of Metro Water preparing a contingency plan to ensure uninterrupted water supply to the city as water levels in reservoirs are slowly dipping.

The development regulations of the CMDA states that rainwater harvesting is mandatory on all premises. The rainwater harvesting structures installed during the AIADMK regime in 2003 helped increase the ground water level in the city, as per a Metro Water monitoring report in 2011.

The report said that the ground water level and quality were enhanced in the sandy, clayey and rocky areas of the city.

Sources said that the proposal was to carry out the audit with the help of non-governmental organisations. This is expected to strengthen and streamline the system.

Rainwater harvesting is the process of augmenting the natural filtration of rainwater into the underground formation by artificial methods. There are various ways of rainwater harvesting, including collecting it from from the roof of a house or building. It can either be stored in a tank or diverted to an artificial recharge system.

This method is not expensive and is very effective. Currently, rainwater harvesting is a prerequisite for obtaining plan approvals when new buildings are constructed. Even older existing structures have been mandated to implement it.