18052023-TTC-01.qxd 5/18/2023 12:22 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 7 NO. 136 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2021-2023 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 LIVINGSTONE’S 94 IN VAIN AS DELHI BEAT PUNJAB KINGS BY 15 RUNS SPORT /thetribunechd GOVT CLEARS ~17K CR INDIAN PETRO EXPORTS TO IT HARDWARE PLI EU COMPLIANT WITH NORMS: SCHEME 2.0 BUSINESS JAISHANKAR BACK PAGE HOUSES OF 5 KISHTWAR TERRORISTS, BASED IN PAK, SEARCHED J&K thursday | 18 may 2023 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com SC gives SEBI time till Aug 14 Instil confidence, Manipur Govt told to complete Adani Group probe ‘FACTUALLY WRONG’: SC RAPS HC JUDGE CJI Chandrachud-led Bench seeks updated report from market regulator Satya Prakash Tribune News Service SP Hinduja, named in Bofors case, dead New Delhi, May 17 His business successes which started with the international distribution rights for the Bollywood blockbuster movie “Sangam” in 1964 made him one of the richest in Britain, but it was the Bofors scam that made Srichand Parmanand Hinduja famous, or rather infamous, back home. SP Hinduja, as he was known, died in London on Wednesday after a prolonged illness. He was 87. Born in a business family in Karachi, British India, he and his two younger brothers were accused of receiving payments totalling Rs 64 crore in illegal commissions to help Swedish gunmaker AB Bofors secure an Indian contract. All three — Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash Hinduja — were, however, exonerated by the Delhi High Court in 2005. The Hinduja empire was started by PD Hinduja. SP Hinduja founded the only Indianowned Swiss bank, SP Hinduja Banquee Privee with headquarters in Geneva. — PTI New Delhi, May 17 The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted time till August 14 to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to complete its probe into the allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group and any possible lapses in regulatory disclosures. “SEBI is granted an extension of time till August 14, 2023, to submit its report. SEBI shall place on record an updated status report in regard to the course of the investigation,” a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud ordered. As Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing SEBI, submitted that the market regulator needed six additional months to complete the probe and that the court should consider extending CAN’T GRANT INDEFINITE EXTENSION tell because we initially ❝ Youyouus what you have donenot granting an indefinite granted two months… We are extension of time… If there is some genuine difficulty, you let us know, we will consider (giving further time). 3-Judge Bench DELIBERATIONS ON JUSTICE SAPRE REPORT ■ On Justice Sapre panel report, the Bench said copies of the report to be made available to parties concerned ■ Set up by SC on March 2, the panel submitted report within two months on strengthening regulatory framework ■ ‘To enable court to analyse report, proceedings shall be listed after summer recess on July 11, the apex court said the deadline at least till September-end, the Bench said it couldn’t grant an indefinite extension of time. “You tell us what you have done because we initially granted you two months. We have granted you now a further extension of three months which makes it five months. We have granted continued on page 10 ‘Power to L-G to pick MANIPUR VIOLENCE aldermen will mean New Delhi, May 17 destabilising MCD’ The Supreme Court on New Delhi, May 17 Amid raging controversy over nomination of 10 aldermen to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said giving such power to the Lt Governor would mean he could destabilise the elected civic body as they would get appointed to the standing committees and have voting power. A three-judge Bench led by the Chief Justice of India wondered if these nominations were of so much concern to the Centre. The MCD has 250 elected and 10 members nominated by the L-G. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain contended that nominated aldermen didn’t have much power. — TNS Wednesday directed the Manipur Government to take necessary measures to instil confidence among people of the ethnic violence-hit state and to ensure “peace and tranquillity”. While hearing petitions on the recent violence on the issue of Scheduled Tribe status to the Meitei community, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asserted that the highest court of the land would ensure that the political executive didn’t turn a blind eye to the situation. “Law and order is a state subject and we as the apex court can ensure that the powers entrusted to the authorities are exercised by them and ❝ We’ve to stay the Manipur HC order... completely factually wrong... gave time to Justice Muralidharan to remedy his error, but he didn’t. If HC judges don’t follow Constitution Bench judgments, then what should we do? CJI-led Bench they don’t turn a blind eye. We are here to ensure there is no inaction,” it said. The constitutional authority should be advised to make statements responsibly, the Bench, which also included Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta after it was alleged that provocative statements had been made by Chief Minister N Biren Singh. The Bench took strong exception to the high court’s “obnoxious” order on ST status to the Meitei community continued on page 10 No price rise, Centre’s nod to Old-timer Sidda or troubleshooter DK? Dilemma stays ~1.08 lakh cr fertiliser subsidy AditiTandon/ Decision in 48 to 72 hours, says Surjewala Shubhadeep Choudhury Tribune News Service Karam Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 17 The Union Government on Wednesday announced that there would be no rise in the price of fertilisers during the upcoming kharif season. The government is said to have already approved Rs 1.08 lakh crore for fertiliser subsidy. Of that, Rs 78,000 crore have been earmarked for subsidy on urea; and Rs 30,000 crore for diammonium phosphate, popularly known as DAP . An insider in the Chemicals 2024 POLL ON MIND? Decision taken keeping in mind 2024 General Election, according to sources in Chemicals & Fertilisers Dept and Fertilisers Department informed that the decision of not hiking fertiliser prices was taken keeping in mind the General Election next year. Punjab has the highest per hectare consumption of chemical fertilisers in the country and is followed by Haryana. Currently, the continued on page 10 New Delhi, May 17 Congress’ dilemma over the appointment of Karnataka Chief Minister persists with top contenders, former CM Siddaramaiah and state unit president DK Shivakumar, digging in heels and the party intensifying parleys to strike a consensus. Though Siddaramaiah appears the frontrunner, Congress general secretary (Karnataka) RS Surjewala said deliberations were still on. Asking for “BJP-propelled rumours” to be disregarded, Supporters of Siddaramaiah pour milk on his poster in Bengaluru. PTI he said: “It is a matter of today and tomorrow and we will have a Congress Legislature Party leader. Within the next 48 to 72 hours, we will have a new Cabinet and at the first Cabinet meeting, we will implement five guarantees and begin work on rebuilding grand Karnataka.” Surjewala also issued an ultimatum to leaders saying, “Any out-ofturn remarks on the issue will be treated as indiscipline and action taken accordingly.” This, as Siddaramaiah’s supporters poured milk on his posters in celebratory rituals and DK Suresh publicly demanded CM-ship for brother Shivakumar. Surjewala said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge believed in “consensus, unanimity and unity and will announce a decision after due deliberations.” continued on page 10 Cops stand guard during an NIA raid in Bathinda. ANI Narco terror: NIA raids 324 sites in eight states, UT New Delhi, May 17 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today said it has conducted a “massive multi-state operation” and raided 324 locations in coordination with the police force of eight states and one Union Territory (UT), including CBI RAIDS PREMISES OF MALIK’S AIDES BACK PAGE Punjab and Haryana. It has seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition, besides other incriminating material in connection with terroristgangster-drug smugglers nexus cases. At the end of ‘Operation Dhvast’, as the crackdown was named by the agency, the NIA, in an official statement, said, “Several suspects were detained during the raids in eight states and one UT, including Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chandigarh and MP — TNS .” ISTOCK 3 RTA officials ‘fix bribe’ to let go overloaded trucks Biden busy, Sydney Quad meet off Group leaders to meet on sidelines of G7 summit in Japan Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 17 The Quad meeting next week in Sydney has been cancelled, and the leaders will instead meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan this weekend, said Australian PM Anthony Albanese after receiving a 4.30 am call from US President Joe Biden expressing his inability to make it due to the deadlock over debt limit in the US. There is no word from Delhi yet whether PM Narendra Modi will go ahead with the Australian visit which also includes a mega Indian community event in Sydney as well as a bilateral meeting with Albanese. With preparations on both fronts at an advanced stage, PM PM MODI MAY GO AHEAD WITH OZ VISIT ■ There is no word from Delhi yet whether PM Narendra Modi will go ahead with the Australian visit ■ Mega Indian community event in Sydney, bilateral meet with Australian PM Anthony Albanese are part of schedule ■ With preparations on both sides at advanced stage, PM Modi may stick to programme Modi is most likely to stick to the scheduled threenation tour programme. IN BRIEF Scribe, former Navy commander arrested NEW DELHI: The CBI has arrested freelance scribe Vivek Raghuvanshi and ex-Navy commander Ashish Pathak for ‘clandestine procurement’ of sensitive information and sharing it with foreign agencies. BACK PAGE Turbulence hits AI’s Delhi-Sydney flight, 7 hurt NEW DELHI: Seven passengers onboard Air India’s Delhi-Sydney flight on Wednesday suffered ‘minor sprain’ due to severe turbulence, an official said. No hospitalisation was required, he added. TNS Ansari acquitted in 2009 attempt to murder case GHAZIPUR: A court on Wednesday acquitted gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari in a 2009 attempt to murder case. Ansari, lodged in the Banda jail, joined the hearing via videoconferencing. PTI PM Modi is slated to leave for Hiroshima for the G7 meet on May 19. India is among the five developing countries invited to attend some of the deliberations of the G7 summit. A planned interaction with Biden on its sidelines is expected. This is where the four leaders will hold a Quad summit. The PM will then visit Papua New Guinea (PNG), where he will co-chair the third India-Pacific Island Countries’ (PIC) summit. Biden too was supposed to visit PNG for a separate USPIC summit. That too has been cancelled. The two leaders were to then go to Sydney where the Australian and the Japanese PMs were to join them for the Quad summit. Charged monthly ~16K per vehicle: Police INDIA TO GROW AT 6.7%: UN WORKS IN FAVOUR ■ Resilient domestic demand ■ Increase in manufacturing AGAINST IT ■ High interest rates ■ Weak external demand IN BETTER SPACE: REPORT ■ UN again called India ‘bright spot’ in world economy, projected 6.7% growth in 2024 ■ Inflation to decelerate to 5.5% as prices moderate, says UN report ‘World Economic Situation & Prospects’ ■ India in better space than many other nations on periphery, it adds Ravinder Saini Tribune News Service Mahendragarh, May 17 A preliminary probe by the police into a case pertaining to illegal release of impounded overloaded trucks without paying penalty has exposed an alleged unholy nexus between private transporters and officials at the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) in Narnaul, the headquarters of Mahendragarh district. The investigation found that three police officials who were on deputation with the RTA, Inspector Suman Kumar, Assistant SubInspector Jaswant and Head Constable Somvir, would allegedly charge between Rs NEXUS IN NARNAUL ■ Inspector among 3 cops on deputation with the Narnaul RTA allegedly form nexus with private transporters ■ Allegedly charge monthly ~13,000 to ~16,000 per vehicle for letting overloaded trucks go; 70 vehicles on list ■ Go into hiding after their names surface; Narnaul court issues arrest warrant 13,000 and Rs 16,000 per vehicle per month from private transporters to let their overloaded vehicles cross, said Superintendent of Police Vikrant Bhushan. He said there were more than 70 such vehicles on the list. continued on page 10 HP Cabinet nod to fill 5,291 teaching posts in schools Shimla, May 17 The Himachal Cabinet today approved the filling of 5,291 vacant posts of trained graduate teacher (TGT) and other categories in the Elementary Education Department. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu here. The TGT posts include 1,070 of arts, 776 of non-medical, 430 of medical and 494 of shastri. As many as 2,521 posts are of JBT teach- TACKLING STAFF CRUNCH Category JBT TGT (arts) TGT (non-medical) TGT (shastri) TGT (medical) Posts 2,521 1,070 776 494 430 ers. The Cabinet also decided to fill 28 posts of medical officers (dental) in the Department of Dental Health Services. It wasl also decided that in case any civil hospital or community health centre did not have the post of medical officer (dental), it will be created and filled. A go-ahead was given to the opening of Rajiv Gandhi Government Model Day Boarding Schools in every Assembly segment and in the first phase, 13 sites had been identified. These schools will have modern facilities like smart classrooms and playgrounds. An approval was also granted c m y b for notifying the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Swarojgar Yojana’ to promote self-employment by encouraging entrepreneurship. As such, e-taxis, e-trucks and e-buses, dental facilities and fishery activities have been brought under the ambit of the scheme. The Cabinet also decided to amend rules to make attic a habitable floor and grant one-time relief up to June 30 to defaulters of Passengers and Goods Tax. — TNS CM Bhagwant Mann with newly elected MP SK Rinku (R) in Jalandhar. PTI AAP’s return gift: ~95 cr to ‘make Jalandhar shine’ For good roads, streetlights, other projects Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 17 Four days after the people of Jalandhar handed a bypoll win to the AAP government, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann today granted Rs 95.16 crore to the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation under the “Sarkar Apke Dwar” initiative after a state Cabinet meeting. He also announced that the work on the Adampur road would be completed by September. The Cabinet meeting was held on the PAP campus here. The CM’s Jalandhar doles were in line with the announcements made during the poll campaign. Both the Smart City project and Adampur flyover were among the promises made by AAP during the campaign. The Chief Minister said the state government had transferred Rs 95.16 crore to the Municipal Corporation “to GOVT NOW BRACES FOR MC ELECTIONS ■ Buoyed by bypoll win, AAP preparing for elections to Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana & Patiala civic bodies ■ Winning these polls will pave way for it to make dent in urban vote bank ahead of the 2024 LS poll ■ To woo urban voters, mainly in Jalandhar, AAP may go in for major changes in policy on illegal colonies INSIDE make the city shine” (‘shehar nu chamkaun layi’ in Punjabi). The CM said the money would be used for roads, street-lights and other development projects. The Chief Minister also said the work on the JalandharAdampur-Hoshiarpur road would be completed at a cost of Rs 13.74 crore by September. The construction of the continued on page 10