THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 3 March 2007 — The Kothamangalam village council has decided to nominate Nitin Joy, the hero of the Feb. 20 Thattekkad boat tragedy, for the President’s Bravery Award. The 14-year-old Class VIII student at Mar Basil High School, Kothamangalam, rescued five children who had fallen off the boat when the vessel capsized, killing 15 schoolchildren and three lady teachers. Nitin, along with his father Pallithazhath Veettil Joy, was on another boat fishing in the river when the disaster struck the picnicking group.
Nitin rowed to the sinking boat, jumped into the water and rescued five children. Last week, the Kothamangalam block panchayat praised the valor of the boy from a poor, landless family.
Dubai Port World Submits Plan
The Dubai Port World, which has been given a 33-year concession for developing and operating an international container transshipment terminal at port Kochi, has submitted the plan and drawings for the first phase to be completed by 2009.
The terminal will have a capacity to handle one million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) initially, for which the DP World is to invest roughly $200 million, according to the port authorities.
Work on rail and road connectivity to the project site at Vallarpadam would begin in a month and all related works are in full swing.
The ICTT project, destined to become a premier gateway to southern India while offering an alternative to Sri Lanka and Singapore for container transshipment, is expected to ease the congestion here and to open up the market by ensuring that shipping lines have a choice through the common user facilities of the company.
Doctor Is a Worker, Asserts Court
A doctor is a workman as defined by the Industrial Disputes Act of India, the Kerala High Court has ruled. “A doctor who performs the duties of examining patient, diagnosing diseases and prescribing medicines would certainly be doing work of a skilled and technical nature and therefore would be a workman as defined in Section 2(s) of Act,” Justice S. Siri Jagan of the HC said while upholding a Labor Court judgment granting holiday wages to a doctor. Though the hospital authorities termed the doctor as “consultant physician”, the court held that the designation given to an employee is not of much importance. It was not disputed before the court that he was a full-time employee of the petitioner-hospital. The Mar Baselius Medical Mission Hospital, Kothamangalam, challenged the holiday wages to Joseph Babu, a doctor attached to the hospital, saying he was a consultant physician and not a workman since he was performing a job of creativity.
SC Verdict Worries Muslims
The Supreme Court order invalidating the Justice K.K. Narendran Commission report on creamy layer among the backward sections eligible for job quotas will lead to a deadlock in fresh appointments in Kerala, the Muslim Educational and Cultural Association (MECA) has said. The MECA State President N.K. Ali said that the top court order did not make any mention of an alternative system, which had to be implemented till a new commission came up with its report. “The concerned officials would not be able to provide the non-creamy layer certificate to the deserving candidates in the reservation categories,” he told reporters here.
