Today News

Chanda on ICICI hot seat

Change of guard: Mr K.V. Kamath, Chief Executive officer & Managing Director, ICICI Bank, and Ms Chanda Kochhar, who takes over as the bank's CEO on May 1 when Mr Kamath's term ends, at a press conference in Mumbai on Friday. - Paul Noronha 

Mumbai, Dec. 19: The ICICI Bank board on Friday said Ms Chanda Kochhar will take over as managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank on May 1, 2009, when the term of Mr K.V. Kamath ends on April 30, 2009. Ms Kochhar is the first woman to head such a large bank, Speaking after her appointment, Ms Kochhar, appearing combative, said she had no regrets that she was taking over the bank du-ring an economic slow-down. “It is a challenge, not a scare.” “Leadership capabilities are best tested in challenging situations.” Source : Deccan

HMDA charge reduced

 

Hyderabad, Dec. 19: The HMDA will charge 25 per cent of the existing development fees in areas which are newly merged with the authority. The development charges will be Rs 12.50 per sqm for built-up space and Rs 10 for land, following directions from the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. The erstwhile Huda used to charge Rs 50 and Rs 40 respectively. The benefit for owners of a 1,000-sqft flat will range from Rs 7,500 to 8,000.

The HMDA commissioner, Mr K. S. Jawahar Reddy said a decision was also taken to prepare a comprehensive master plan on par with international standards. The HMDA will introduce a green channel, a fast track plan approval scheme with special processing fee. In the new method technical approval for buildings will be released by the local body in six working days.

“This is optional and applicants can approach in the regular method also,” the Chief Minister’s Office said in a press release. It was decided to delegate powers of sanctioning plans for ground+2 floors in area below 1,000 sqm to gram panchayats. The Chief Minister approved the HMDA’s proposal to outsource clearance of building plans. Source : Deccan

HDFC, 2 banks cut prime rate

 

Mumbai, Dec. 19: HDFC, Union Bank and Bank of Rajasthan announced cuts in lending rates. HDFC, the country's premier housing finance institution, has reduced its retail prime lending rates (RPLR) by 50 basis points, from December 22. A cut in RPLR will apply to all existing floating rate customers. The rates of interest on loans to NRIs  have also similarly been reduced. Source : Deccan

Director Seeman arrested

 

Madurai, Dec. 19: Director Seeman was arrested in Theni on Friday on charges of making prov- ocative speeches in support of the banned LTTE. This is the second time he is getting arrested. Source : Deccan

Notice issued to insurance firm

 

Chennai, Dec. 19: Justice K Suguna of the Madras high court on Friday ordered notice to the National Insurance company on a petition, seeking a direction to print its terms and condition in regional language in the policy.

According to the petitioner R Ayyanar, on May 15, 2008, he met with an accident and took treatment in private hospitals. Based on the insurance policy, taken on the assurance that if any accident occurs, the entire medical expenses would be reimbursed, he made an application to the company. But the company rejected the same on the ground that he was not eligible for the accident claim and it was not responsible for the promise given by the agent.

Contending that the terms and conditions were printed in English language and hence he trusted the agent, he sent a representation to the company to reimburse his medical expenses and to print the terms and conditions in Tamil in future. Subsequen-tly, he moved the high court, which also directed the company to consider his representation. But the company again rejected his claim, he added.

‘Pay retirement benefits’

Chennai: The Madras high court has held that those who resign because of illness or ill-health and not because of any misconduct or adverse record and are allowed to do so by the state, are entitled for all retirement benefits.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Justice V. Dhanapalan while disposing of a petition from D Vijayarangan, directed the state government to provide retirement benefits including pension and gratuity to him.

Viajayarangan while in service in government department suffered mental illness and went on long medical leave. Since the leave exceeded more than one year, he was served with a notice. In this background, he had to resign from service, but on recovering from illness, he requested for reinstatement, which was rejected. In the meantime, he applied for retirement but such application was also rejected.

The bench said under Rule 23 of the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, a person was entitled for all benefits if he was allowed to resign for appointment in some other post under the government. The rule was silent with regard to resignation, if given on the grounds of illness or ill-health for which permission was granted by the competent authority. Hence, "we hold that those who resign because of illness or ill-health are entitled for the same benefit which was allowed to those who resign to join another service under the state." Source : Deccan

Pongal kits banned in Madurai

 

Chennai, Dec. 19: The election commission on Friday banned distribution of the bag containing ingredients for preparing sweet pongal, saris and dhotis in Madurai district citing the model code of conduct, which is in force for January 9 be-election to Tirumangalam Assembly constituency.

Addressing a press conference at the secretariat here, chief electoral officer Naresh Gupta said the model code of conduct would apply for the entire district of Madurai. "Even during the previous elections in the state the commission had banned the distribution of saris and dhotis," he said, adding that technically, it would be in force till January 15 though the counting of votes for the by-election is on January 12.

Only on Tuesday, the state government had announced distribution of the bag containing ingredients such as rice, jaggery, split green gram, cashew, raisins and cardamom for preparing sweet pongal to celebrate Pongal festival and Tamil New Year day for the 1.86 crore family card holders.

Mr Gupta said the AIADMK candidate who filed his nomination on Thursday violated the model code of conduct. As per the code, only five people, including the candidate, should enter the returning officer’s office while filing nomination papers. But when the AIADMK candidate filed his papers more number of persons accompanied him in violation of the rules, he said, adding that it was a failure on the part of police to enforce the code. "We will submit a report to the election commission along with video cassettes," he said.

The CEO refused to comment to a question on chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s charge that the state government had not been consulted by the election commission before the announcement of by-election. Source : Deccan

Macro drain project gets Rs 360 crore

 

Chennai, Dec. 19: The Union government on Friday sanctioned Rs 360 crore as the first installment for the prestigious Chennai macro drain project to make the city free of post-monsoon water-logging.

"A high-level delegation comprising civic officials will camp in Delhi for the next few days to ensure that the next three instalments of the Rs 1,538 crore project are sanctioned within two months," Chennai mayor M. Subramanian who is heading the delegation told Deccan Chronicle over the phone.

The public works department (PWD) and Chennai corporation (CC) will jointly execute the pilot project funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The project report for the first phase is ready. Under this phase, Otteri Nullah will be linked to Cooum river through a channel and this move will prevent flooding in Perambur, Otteri and Vysarpadi, Mr Subramanian said.

According to sources, PWD and CC will study parameters like rainfall recorded over the last four decades, intensity and the downpour frequency and the capacity of the existing drains.

The banks of all the water channels in the city would be strengthened and the 15 lakes in the city desilted and fenced.

While, the corporation will focus on construction of storm water drains and improving the minor canals maintained by it. The PWD will focus on three major waterways including Adyar River, Buckingham canal and Cooum. These waterways will be desilted, deepened and their bunds strengthened to carry the flood.

Chennai city has a road network of 2, 870 km, most of it maintained by the corporation. Only about 850 km of roads have storm water drains.

This network of drains with the 16 minor canals, Cooum, Buckingham canal and the Adyar river form the rainwater drainage. Some of the existing drainage system is more than three decades old and during heavy rains, water stagnates in several parts inundating the low lying areas of north and south Chennai. Source : Deccan

Mishap victim wife gets Rs 52.56 lakh

 

Madurai, Dec. 19: A Madurai court has ordered a record compensation of Rs 52.56 lakh to a petitioner who lost her husband in an accident. The first additional sessions court here directed an insurance company to pay out the compensation with nine per cent interest to Muniyandi Shantha who lost her husband Shanmugam, a devotee of Lord Ayyappa, who died in an accident on the way to Sabarimala eight years ago.

According to the prosecution, Shanmugam (41), a citizen of Singapore who was working as a driver there, had come down to India for a pilgrimage to Sabarimala. When he was on his way to the temple on January 1, 1999, the van in which he was travelling met with an accident killing him and three others on the spot.

His wife Shantha filed a case seeking a claim of Rs 1.26 crore taking into account the salary of her husband.  The trial had been going on for the last eight years. On Thursday, judge Jonathan Gnaniah ordered that the United India insurance firm award a sum of Rs 52.56 lakh to the petitioner. Source : Deccan

ADAG says no firing; hiring up to 90,000 people

Fri, Dec 19 07:58 PM

Mumbai, Dec 19 (PTI) In the midst of massive layoffs being announced by various corporate houses hit by a global economic slowdown, Anil Ambani group today said it is not planning any job reduction and is rather planning to create up to 90,000 employment opportunities in the next few months. Debunking the reports that the group is laying off 6,000 people in its financial services and entertainment businesses, Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh said, "There are no layoffs.

"In fact, the coming three months are high investment period for tax saving products and we are going to appoint almost 75,000 to 90,000 agents and sales representatives in the coming months," he added. Earlier this month, Reliance Life Insurance's chief P Nandagopal had told PTI that the company would recruit 90,000 insurance agents and 2,500 sales managers by March 2009. Source : Yahoo