The High Court of Karnataka has found fault in the actions of the State government as well as the Lokayukta in initiating disciplinary proceedings against an engineer for not acting against an illegal building situated in Hombegowda ward, while pointing out that the engineer could not take further action as a tribunal had ordered maintenance of status quo with respect to the illegal construction.

“An officer of the State is required to abide by the orders of courts and tribunals. If there is an order of such a court and tribunal restraining the officer from performing any particular action, the non-performance thereof cannot be said to be a dereliction of duty,” the court observed.

Justice Suraj Govidaraj passed the order while quashing the disciplinary proceedings against B.S. Sandeep, who was working as an assistant executive engineer in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike during 2013.

The BBMP issued both preliminary and final notification with respect to an illegally constructed building in August 2013 but it could not go ahead with the demolition as the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal in November 2013 directed the BBMP to maintain status quo on the nature of the building.

Suo motu probe

Meanwhile, the Lokayukta had taken suo motu probe into construction of various properties, including the one involved in the present case, and found that the jurisdictional officers/engineers of the BBMP had failed to act against this illegal construction.

Based on the Lokayukta’s preliminary report, the government initiated departmental enquiry against the officer, including the petitioner, and entrusted the task of enquiry to the Lokayukta during 2016.

However, the court found that the tribunal’s order of status quo was in force when the Lokayukta gave the preliminary report, when the government initiated departmental enquiry in March 2016, and when the Lokayukta issued chargesheet to the petitioner in July 2016.

When the petitioner and the BBMP was restrained from acting owing to the tribunal’s order, disciplinary proceedings could not have been initiated against him, the court said.

Ashwin Desikan, co-founder and CTO, Alsuya Technologiest; Dr, Tamizh Inian, founder and CEO, Frigate Engineering Services Private Limited and Phunith Kumar V, CPO and co-founder, Raptee HV, along with Kunal Shankar, Deputy Business Editor, The Hindu, during the session on Digital Transformation, Startup As Catalyst For Change, in Chennai on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be leveraged in industries, colleges or schools. Individuals can learn AI, apply it in their jobs and upskill themselves to find a next job , said Ashwin Desikan, co founder, CTO Atsuya Technologies, at the Tamil Nadu Startup Summit in Chennai on Thursday.

Speaking about how AI and digitalisation will bring in disruption, he said, “Look at how we waste resources today. We believe that labour is cheap. It is not. Rather, we could spend that time in cross skilling or upskilling them and that would bring in the change. Today the power of AI is such that you can have full conversations with it. “

He was speaking in a panel discussion on ‘Digital Transformation: Startup as a Catalyst for Change’ moderated by Kunal Shankar, Deputy Business Editor, The Hindu.

Talking about the challenges that they faced, Mr. Desikan drew the example of emergency management system of Greater Chennai Corporation and said, “In the initial stages, it used to be the cloud when we approached customer as we are a cloud-only platform. The whole perception that cloud is bad in many cases or not very secure sometimes puts fundamental blocks in company’s mind. So winning trust over the customer with what they are observing was key.”

Highlighting the need for a feedback loop, Tamizh Inian, founder, CEO, Frigate Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd. said: “I believe in taking MSMEs global. You have to become a global vendor so that their margins can raise. If they do operation efficiency using digital there would be a lot of benefit for them. Even if you implement any policy, we also need to be able to get feedback. There has to be a feedback loop from the MSMEs. There has to be a structured format of policy for every sector based on their revenue. That’s how all the players would benefit.”

Pointing to the range anxiety that people might feel when they own an electric vehicle, as one of the challenges in the sector, Phunith Kumar V., CPO, co-founder Raptee HV said: “The best way to solve it is by having a better charging infrastructure or better energy density technology than making a vehicle run longer on a single charge. Putting on bigger battery pads is not going to solve it. These are the things we need to work on.”

Visakhapatnam: Residents of hilltop Neredu Bandha in Chimalapadu panchayat of Ravikamatham mandal in Anakapalli district have sought establishment of a special medical camp in their village to deal with the rising cases of fever among children.

At least 13 kids are suffering from fever in this difficult-to-access village belonging to Kondu tribals, one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in the agency area. One of the children, Kilo Prabhas, had to be shifted to the Narsipatnam Area Hospital for treatment.

There is no ASHA worker or Anganwadi centre available in the area, leaving the children vulnerable to untreated illnesses. Apart from the medical camp, concerned villagers have sought anti-mosquito spraying in the village, as they feel the fever among children is due to malaria.

It is said officials declined to do so, citing that the village is not listed in revenue records. Such lack of preventive measures has raised fears among residents about the worsening health conditions.

Among the children reported ill during the past three days are Pangi Abhishek, Killo Sundar Rao, Dippala Shivaji, Killo Kamala Sedari, Ratnam Pangi Sai, Golluru Bhaskara Rao, Pangi Ankita, Sedari Rusa, Sedari Banji Babu, Dippala Vishnu, and Pangi Vasantha.

Local tribal leaders, including Tribal Association president Pangi Chandrayya and PVTG Association president Gemili Vasu, have urged the state government to take immediate action and set up a medical camp in the Neredu Bandha village.

They warned that they would otherwise stage a protest at the Primary Health Centre.