18052022-TT-01.qxd 17-05-2022 22:55 Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 142 NO.136 | 12 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2021-2023 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  HIMACHAL PRADESH SHAH REVIEWS SECURITY, LOGISTICS FOR AMARNATH YATRA J&K /thetribunechd MARIUPOL SIEGE ENDS, 265 UKRAINE FIGHTERS SURRENDER WORLD GOLD RUSH FOR INDIAN K’TAKA GOVT HAS TAKEN PISTOL SHOOTERS IN AWAY OUR POWERS, EC GERMANY EVENT SPORT TELLS HC BACK PAGE wednesday | 18 may 2022 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Wholesale inflation at record highof 15.08% Protect area where ‘Shivling’ found, but allow Muslims to offer namaz: SC Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 17 The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered protection of the area where a ‘Shivling’ was reported to have been found at the Gyanvapi mosqueShringar Gauri complex in Varanasi even as it clarified that there should be no restriction on Muslims offering namaz or other religious observances there. The Bench, which also included Justice PS Narasimha, refused to stay the ongoing proceedings before the lower court but made it clear that the trial judge’s order that only 20 people would offer namaz at the disputed complex would New Delhi, May 17 Wholesale price index (WPI)based inflation rose to a record high of 15.08 per cent in April, up from 14.55 per cent in March, due to rising prices of crude, food products and chemicals. The wholesale inflation has been in double digits for 13 straight months since April last year. Besides, the inflation rate for April is the highest in the current series introduced in 2013. Considering the old series as well, the last time WPI inflation higher than this was 16.06 per cent in August 1991. Fuelled by similar factors, retail inflation too was at a record 7.79 per cent in April from 6.95 per cent in March. It has remained above the RBI’s tolerance band of 6 per cent for four consecutive months. In the WPI basket, the index for fuel and power group was 2.8 per cent higher in April as compared to March, that for manufactured products (accounting for 64.23 per cent of the WPI basket) rose 1.7 per cent, but worryingly, the food index rose the fastest, 3.4 per cent month-on-month. “The high MUTED DEBUT, LIC LISTS AT 8% DISCOUNT ■ Against issue price of ~949, LIC shares listed at ~872 on BSE ■ Listed below price at which shares allotted to LIC policyholders ■ Shares finally closed at ~873 on NSE and ~875.45 on BSE PRICEY ESSENTIALS LEAD TO SPIKE 13TH MONTH OF DOUBLE-DIGIT INFLATION inflation in food articles 8.35% 10.85% manufactured products HITS RECORD LOW fuel and power 38.66% basket 77.79 crude and ENDS AT 77.44 USD 69.07% natural gas SENSEX SURGES 10.74% WPI inflation a 1,344.63 POINTS year ago single-day 16.06% previous high BestCLOSES ATgain in 3 months in August 1991 54,318.47 DETAILED REPORT PAGE 10 VS ANOTHER ROUND OF RATE HIKE LIKELY IN JUNE NSE Nifty gains 417 points to close at 16,259.30 rate of inflation in April was primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude and natural gas, food IN BRIEF Naveen Srivastava appointed new envoy to Nepal NEW DELHI: Naveen Srivastava, part of negotiations with China over eastern Ladakh, has been named next Indian envoy to Nepal. The decision comes a day after PM Modi’s visit to Lumbini. TNS India launches testing apparatus for 5G services NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday launched testing apparatus for 5G phone services. PM Modi dedicated the ‘test-bed’ to the nation terming it an important step toward self-reliance in technology. TNS Doubt over fake a/cs could scuttle Twitter deal: Musk LONDON: Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday said Twitter deal could- n't move forward unless the company showed public proof that less than 5% of the accounts on the platform were fake or spam. PTI SC extends deadline for demolition of Noida towers NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday extended till August 28 the deadline for demolition of Supertech’s twin 40-storey towers in Noida, which have been declared illegal over violation of norms. TNS articles, non-food articles, chemicals and chemical products,” said a Commerce Ministry statement. Satya Prakash Tribune News Service Vibha Sharma Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 17 Amid protests by traders over wheat export ban, the government today allowed the shipment of consignments registered with the Customs before the order came into effect on May 13. “It has been decided wherever wheat consignments have Tribune News Service 10 premises raided; PC questions timing official and residential premises of Chidambram fatherson duo in Chennai and Delhi. Other places covered included Mumbai, Mansa (Punjab), Koppal (Karnataka) and Jharsuguda (Odisha). In his initial reaction, Karti tweeted: "I have lost count, how many times has it been? Must be a record.” In another continued on page 9 HC stays Khemka’s arrest in Haryana recruitment ‘scam’ More forces for Punjab ahead of Blue Star anniv Civilian killed as ultras hurl grenade at Baramulla shop Chandigarh, May17 The Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the arrest of senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka in a corruption case. The direction by Justice Avneesh Jhingan of the High Court came after the Bench was told that inquiry or investigation could not be initiated without prior sanction in accordance with the amended provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Issuing notice of motion for August 4 to the State of Haryana and other respondents on his plea, Justice Jhingan made it clear that Khemka would continue to continued on page 9 Chandigarh, May 17 Ten companies of the paramilitary forces would be deployed soon in Punjab to meet the challenges of security in coming days. Following a requisition made by the state government, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday approved the deployment of additional force in the state. DGP VK Bhawra said the additional security was required in view of the Operation Blue Star anniversary in the first week of June. He insisted the requisition of forces was not made in the wake of the recent RPG attack in Mohali or for more Srinagar, May 17 One person was killed and three others were injured on Tuesday when terrorists hurled a grenade inside a newly opened wine shop in the Baramulla district of northKashmir, officials said. The terrorists lobbed the grenade towards the wine shop at the court road around 8.30 pm, leaving four persons injured, the officials said. They said the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment where one of them, Ranjit Singh of Rajouri, succumbed. A police spokesman said all four were employees of the shop and hailed from Jammu division. — OC FILE PHOTO 10 ADDITIONAL PARAMILITARY COMPANIES TO BE DEPLOYED such threat to the defence and police installations. “Usually, additional force is required to avoid any untoward incident in June during the Ghalughara week,” Bhawra said. The state police have nearly 80,000 personnel. The 10 companies will bring another about 1,000 personnel. — TNS CBI to probe HP paper leak case; ‘kingpin’ held in UP Shimla, May 17 The Himachal Government today decided to hand over the probe into the police constable recruitment paper leak case to the CBI. The case involves suspects from 10 states. CM Jai Ram Thakur said 73 arrests had been made so far. “To facilitate the probe across India, we decided to hand over FACILITATING PAN-INDIA INVESTIGATION ❝ The SIT has done a wonderful job, but to facilitate pan-India probe, we have decided to hand over the case to CBI. Jai Ram Thakur, HP CM the case to the CBI,” the CM said at a press conference. The BJP regime in the state has come in for severe criticism for handing over the probe to police officials when the entire process for filling 1,334 vacancies was being handled by the SURVEY PANEL GETS TWO MORE DAYS FOR REPORT A local court in Varanasi on Tuesday granted two-day extension for submitting the final survey report in the Gyanvapi case, as requested by the survey team. REPORT LEAKED, SURVEY COMMISSIONER REMOVED The Varanasi court removed Survey Commissioner Ajay Mishra amid allegations of survey details being leaked to the media by one of his close aides. << Police frisk people as they arrive to offer prayers at the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on Tuesday. PTI not operate now. It issued a notice to the Hindu side and posted the matter for further hearing on May 19 after it was informed that advocate Hari Shankar Jain, who represent- ed the Hindu side, was admitted to hospital in Varanasi. continued on page 9 Govt allows wheat export orders placed till May 13 CBI books Karti yet again, now in cash-for-visa case New Delhi, May 17 The CBI has registered a fresh case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram for allegedly facilitating visas of 263 Chinese nationals for a power company in lieu of alleged illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh around 11 years ago while his father P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister, officials said. Agency sleuths conducted searches at 10 locations across the country, including GYANVAPI CASE: Refuses to stay lower court proceedings | Removes curbs on devotee count Police Department itself. “The government acted promptly by registering an FIR, cancelled the paper and constituted an SIT,” he said, dismissing Opposition criticism. Thakur said the suspected kingpin, Shiv Bahadur Singh, had been arrested from Varanasi, besides an accused continued on page 9 DON’T RESTRICT SUPPLY: US TO INDIA ■ The US has asked coun- tries, including India, not to limit wheat exports amid shortage from Russia and Ukraine ■ Any restriction will exacerbate food shortage, said US Permanent Representative to UN Linda ThomasGreenfield. “We hope they (India) can reconsider their position,” she said been handed over to the Customs or registered into their systems on or prior to May 13, such consignments will be allowed to be exported,” the Commerce Ministry said. The government also allowed a wheat consignment headed for Egypt already being loaded at the Kandla port after a request by its government. The sudden ban order left several tonnes of grain stranded at ports. Traders associations in Madhya Pradesh called for a bandh, saying hundreds of continued on page 9 Bombay HC judge recommended as Himachal HC CJ NewDelhi, May17 The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of Justice Amjad A Sayed of the Bombay High Court as Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Born on January 21, 1961, Justice Sayed obtained a Bachelor’s in Law from Bombay University in 1984. 6 HCs TO GET NEW CJs BACK PAGE He has appeared in PILs relating to mangroves, garbage dumping, concessional treatment for poor in charitable hospitals, among others, on behalf of the Centre and Maharashtra Government. The Collegium has also recommended elevation of four other HC judges as CJs of Bombay, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Gauhati HCs. Telangana HC CJ SC Sharma is to be made Delhi HC CJ. — TNS