Latest news with #MJothiraman
New Indian Express
27-06-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Madras High Court upholds Rs 1L compensation to custodial torture victim
Chennai: The Madras High Court has refused to reverse the order of the State Human Rights Commission which awarded Rs 1 lakh compensation to a victim of police torture and ordered recovery of the amount from the salary of an inspector and sub-inspector. A division bench of Justices J Nisha Banu and M Jothiraman recently dismissed the petitions filed by inspector D Babu Rajendra Bose and sub-inspector S Mani who had served during the relevant period at the Puzhal police station. They moved the court seeking to quash the orders of the SHRC passed on November 13, 2018 awarding Rs 1 lakh compensation to Rajinikanth, who was subjected to custodial torture after being secured by the police on December 20, 2013 in connection with a cheating case. The bench said there is no reason to interfere with the order of the SHRC and the consequential order passed by the home department in 2022 to recover the compensation amount from the officers involved. The court observed that the police officers have a critical role in maintaining law and order while upholding human rights.
New Indian Express
23-06-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Railway properties exempt from state taxes even if commercially used: Madras HC
MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that Union government properties are exempt from state taxes even if used commercially, setting aside Madurai corporation's property tax demand on a commercial complex at Madurai railway junction. The court noted the land belongs to the Southern Railway and remains Union property throughout the lease, even though it was sublet to a private firm. The property, along with the building, will return to the railways after the lease period. A bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and M Jothiraman, which passed the order, noted that the parcel of land, where the complex is situated, belongs to Southern Railway and was leased out by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) to Ircon Infrastructure & Services Limited - which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Union Ministry of Railways - to develop the land for commercial use. The latter, in turn, had constructed a building and sublet the land to the appellant company, Madurai Multi Functional Complex Private Limited (MMFC), for 30 years. The Madurai corporation assessed the building for property tax and issued a demand notice in March 2018 calling upon the MMFC to pay half-yearly property tax to the tune of Rs 10.07 lakh. When the same was challenged by the MMFC, the petition was dismissed by a single bench in 2020, considering the facts that the building was constructed by Ircon infrastructure and then leased out to the MMFC and is being put to commercial use.
