Former T.N. Minister S.P. Velumani’s brother withdraws defamation suit filed against DMK organ Murasoli
The Hindu
Plaintiffs P. Senthil & Co. and P. Anbarasan, brother of former AIADMK Minister S.P. Velumani, withdrew a 2018 defamation suit against DMK organ Murasoli. They had sought ₹1 crore in damages for allegedly defamatory articles. After 5 yrs, the Madras High Court granted permission to withdraw the suit, with the possibility of court fee return.
Former AIADMK Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani’s brother, P. Anbarasan, has withdrawn a defamation suit filed before the Madras High Court in 2018, seeking damages of ₹1 crore, with interest at the rate of 24% per annum, from DMK organ Murasoli, for having published an allegedly defamatory article.
The suit had been filed jointly by P. Senthil and Co., represented by its partner P. Anbarasan as well as the latter in his personal capacity, to restrain Murasoli and its publisher S. Selvam from carrying defamatory articles, photographs, caricatures or statements against the plaintiffs as well as Mr. Velumani of the AIADMK.
The plaintiffs had also demanded damages of ₹1 crore for the articles that had already been published. However, after five years, they now sought the permission of the court to withdraw the suit. Justice N. Sathish Kumar granted the permission and directed the High Court Registry to return the court fee if the rules so permit.
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.