Tamil Nadu govt to withdraw cable TV network bill

The Tamil Nadu government today decided to withdraw the bill brought in by the previous AIADMK regime to regulate the cable television network in the state, saying that, "it does not come under the purview of the state government."

An official statement said that the decision was taken at a cabinet meeting today.

The statement said that the Governor had returned the bill, which was sent for his consent by the previous Jayalalithaa government, with the remarks that "such a bill came under the purview of the Central government".

It also recalled the observation of the Madras High Court that, "the state cannot continue to regulate the cable network after enactment of a similar law by the Central government - cable network comes under Entry 31, list I of the Seventh Schedule."

In another decision on the desalination plant, the government decided to hold discussion with the contractor finalised by the previous regime to revise some of the conditions.

The statement said that the government would implement the project if the contractor agreed to the revision of the conditions. It would also take up the desalination scheme announced by the Centre.

A decisions was also taken to seek the opinion of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation regarding a metro rail project for Chennai.

The cabinet decided to grant permission to set up medical and dental colleges in rural areas in the state.

In yet another crucial decision, the cabinet decided to allow the nursing colleges to increase the number of seats to 100 from the present 50 and from 20 to 40 in degree colleges.