MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to reply to four questions posed by it on the steps taken to ensure a fair competition for Tamil medium students in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on the next hearing on Friday.
A bench of Justices C T Selvam and A M Basheer Ahamed asked the CBSE whether any exercise had been undertaken by the Board to ascertain which of the English words (i.e technical and scientific terms) they were incapable of translating to Tamil and if such was case, whether the Board had compiled any dictionary to translate the above terms in Tamil.
The Judges further continued, if there was such a compilation, has the CBSE informed the teachers, who conducted classes for the Tamil medium students, about the existence of the compilation.
They also raised questions as to whether the Board had taken any steps to educate Tamil medium students that English words used to name parts of human body, plants etc. have an equivalent Tamil word.
The answers for the above four questions should be submitted by the CBSE by way of affidavits on the next hearing on Friday.
Refusing to accept the petitioner’s request seeking stay on the ongoing medical counselling, the Judges said that they do not want to pass any orders in between as the counselling has been scheduled by the Board already and added that they will wait for CBSE’s response to their questions.
Conditional nod for extending insurance contract
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court granted permission to State’s request to extend the contract of health insurance scheme for pensioners on condition that the contract should be liable to the outcome of the final decision of the court.
During the previous hearing on the batch of cases related to grievances regarding medical insurance cover, Justice R Suresh Kumar, had sought a response from the State on extending the medical insurance coverage for government employees and pensioners to all private hospitals across the State.
As the contract for the Health Insurance Scheme for pensioners had lapsed on June 30, the Judge allowed the government to float tenders for extension of the scheme but added, “the final decision to enter into an agreement with the insurance company shall not be taken until further orders from the Court”, and adjourned the case to July 3.
However, the AAG submitted that if the contract was not extended on July 1 for a few days, the insurance company selected for the extension of the scheme might raise an objection on whether the beneficiaries would be entitled to claim reimbursement for those few days as the particular period will not be covered by the contract.
He further sought two weeks time from the Court to form a comprehensive government order to address all the issues raised in the petitions including an extension of the coverage of the scheme to more private hospitals and more diseases.
Passing the order, Justice Suresh Kumar, stated that the government should be at liberty to extend the scheme of medical insurance for pensioners from July 1 by entering into a necessary contract with the successful bidder. “However, such contract shall be subject to the outcome of the decision made by the court on this batch of cases.”
Buying time
The Judges asked if the CBSE informed the teachers, who conducted classes for the Tamil medium students, about the existence of the compilation. They also asked if the Board had taken any steps to educate Tamil medium students