25032025-TTB-01.qxd 3/25/2025 12:01 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 145 NO. 82 | 18 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  HARYANA US, RUSSIA HOLD BLACK SEA TRUCE TALKS AS UKRAINE POUNDED AGAIN WORLD /thetribunechd FORCES INTENSIFY SEARCH OP IN KATHUA; ARMS RECOVERED J&K SENSEX JUMPS 1,078 POINTS TO SETTLE AT 6-WEEK HIGH BUSINESS CONG GIVES PRIVILEGE NOTICE IN RS AGAINST NADDA BACK PAGE tuesday | 25 march 2025 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com intel SC Collegium recommends transfer Punjab citesactionon potential violence for on farmers of Justice Varma to Allahabad HC Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Delhi CJ withdraws work from him| Lawyers in UPoppose shifting, to go on strike from today CASH AT JUDGE’S HOUSE PETITION IN SC SEEKS FIR AGAINST JUDGE Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 24 Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court, who has been in the eye of the storm over the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash from his residence during a fire incident on March 14, was on Monday recommended to be transferred to the Allahabad High Court — his parent high court. The decision was taken by the five-member Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, after considering the issue for the second time on Monday. The other four members of the Collegium are Justice BR Gavai, Justice Surya Kant, Justice AS Oka and Justice Vikram Nath. “The SC Collegium, at its AjaySeth,IAS officer of K’taka cadre, is new Finance Secy NEW DELHI: Ajay Seth, a 1987batch Karnataka-cadre IAS officer, was on Monday appointed the new Finance Secretary. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi, cleared the appointment. The vacancy was necessitated following appointment of Tuhin Kant Pandey as the chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India recently. Seth is currently serving as the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs. — TNS US trade delegation tovisitIndiaaheadof April 2 tariff deadline NEW DELHI: The US on Monday confirmed the visit of a highlevel trade delegation, led by Brendan Lynch, to India from March 25 to 29 and said it was committed to advancing productive and balanced trade ties between the two nations. The visit comes days ahead of the April 2 deadline US President Donald Trump has set for reciprocal tariffs with India to set in. BACK PAGE SC lawyer Mathews Nedumpara has filed a PIL in the SC seeking an FIR against Justice Varma. He also challenged the CJI’s decision to set up a three-member panel to probe the matter. Nedumpara has also challenged the SC’s ruling in the 1991 K Veeraswami's case in which it was held that a criminal case against a sitting HC or SC judge can only be filed after consulting the CJI. << Lawyers after a meeting of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association in Prayagraj. PTI meetings held on March 20 and 24, has recommended the repatriation of Justice Varma, a judge of the High Court of Delhi, to the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad,” a Collegium resolution published on the Supreme Court website said. The SC had on Friday sought to dispel “misinformation and rumours” about the proposal to transfer him, saying it was still under consideration and that it was not linked to the in-house FIR against Kunal Kamra for Shinde remark; Sena menransackshowvenue Mumbai, March 24 ence. After a video went viral The Mumbai police on Mon- showing Kamra allegedly day registered an FIR using defamatory words against stand-up comedian against Shinde, Shiv Sena Kunal Kamra for allegedly MLA Murji Patel lodged a making defamatory remarks police complaint. against Maharashtra Deputy Deputy Commissioner of CM Eknath Shinde during a Police (Zone 9) Dixit Gedam show on Sunday, said two separate officials said. offences were regisEnraged over the tered at the Khar comments, Shiv police station — one Sena workers led by against Kamra over party functionary his comments and Rahul Kanal ranthe other against the sacked the venue of vandals. Kamra’s show on Before his arrest, Kunal Kamra Sunday. The police Kanal told mediaon Monday arrested persons, “It is not Kanal and 11 others for ran- about taking any law in your sacking the venue. The court hands. It is purely about your remanded the accused to 14- self-respect. When it comes to day judicial custody following elders or respectable citizens which they applied for bail. of the country when your eldThe magistrate allowed their ers are targeted, you will target plea and released them on a someone of that mentality.” cash bond of Rs 15,000. “Abhi tak toh ye trailer hai, Kamra had made a contro- picture abhi baki hai. Whenversial “traitor” jibe against ever you are in Mumbai, you Shinde using a modified ver- will get a good lesson in Shiv sion of a Hindi song from the Sena style,” the Shiv Sena continued on page 10 film ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, elicitedit: kamra in the dock ing laughter from the audi- inquiry initiated by the Delhi High Court Chief Justice. The Centre was expected to issue a formal order soon notifying Justice Varma’s transfer to the Allahabad High Court where lawyers were up in arms against the decision to repatriate him to his parent high court. They have decided to resort to an indefinite strike from Tuesday. “The High Court Bar Association opposes any proposed transfer of Justice Varma to the continued on page 10 Chandigarh, March 24 Justifying its March 19 action against farmers, the Punjab Government today informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that intelligence inputs had indicated a potential escalation at the farm protest sites in Shambhu and Khanauri. It said there were credible warnings suggesting that the protesting farmers might attempt to breach barricades and resume their march towards Delhi. An affidavit, submitted by Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Nanak Singh, stated that intelligence gathered from various sources pointed that the “farmers were likely to make a violent attempt at breaching the barricading”. The situation reportedly worsened after a meeting held on March 19 between leaders of protesting farmer organisations and a central ministerial delegation led by the Agriculture Minister NAGPUR VIOLENCE FALLOUT Punjab cops had removed farmers from the protest sites on March 19. 450 MORE FARMERS TO BE RELEASED The Punjab Police on Monday said it had released nearly 800 farmers from detention and was going to free 450 more on the direction of the state government. The farmers were detained on March 19. Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite fast, too had attended the meeting while being medically monitored in an ambulance provided by the Punjab Government in compliance with the SC’s directions. The affidavit said the Punjab Government took preemptive steps on the intervening night of March 19-20 Close shave for Dy CM as aircraft overshoots Shimla airport runway Tribune News Service The two-storey house of Fahim Khan, alleged mastermind of the Nagpur clashes, is demolished by local civic body, which claimed the structure was built illegally. The Bombay HC stayed the demolitions and criticised the authorities for their ‘high-handedness’, but by then Fahim’s house had been razed. PTI Punjab cops arrest three Army men for smuggling drugs, arms from Pak Batala, March 24 The Punjab Police’s State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) on Monday busted a major narcotics smuggling network by arresting three Army men and two civilians for their alleged role in procuring heroin and arms and ammunition from Pakistan-based smugglers. All five were arrested from Gokuwal village along the Dera Baba Nanak road. This was an SSOC operation and the Batala police had no hand in the arrests, said officials. An FIR has been registered at the SSOC, Amritsar, on a complaint by Inspector Amandeep Singh, who led the operation. The arrested Army men were identified as Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, his brother Sukhpreet Singh and Akashdeep Singh, the officials said. The civilians arrested in the case were Kulwinder Singh and Arvinder Singh. Gopi, who has been named continued on page 10 Shimla, March 24 A major mishap was averted when an Alliance Air 42seater aircraft, carrying Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and over 30 passengers, landed using the emergency brakes to prevent the plane from overshooting the runway at the Jubbarhatti airport, 22 km from here, today. “We were on the flight from Delhi to Shimla when there was some glitch, resulting in the use of the emergency brakes to land. Landing was not up to the mark and there was some problem as there was sudden application of the brakes to prevent the plane from overshooting the runway,” said Agnihotri. “We all are aware that the Jubbarhatti airport near here has a small runway. The plane landed almost close to where the runway ends and crossed the studs — the last point on the runway,” said Agnihotri. Confirming the emergency Salaries of MPs hiked by 24% to ~1.24 lakh a month, will get 2-yr arrears too Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 24 The Centre on Monday notified a 24 per cent hike in the salaries of Members of Parliament with effect from April 1, 2023, taking their monthly salaries from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.24 lakh. The hike represents a 148 per cent raise over the base monthly salary of Rs 50,000 that they were drawing in 2010. As part of the revisions notified by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the MPs ’ daily allowance has also been raised from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500. The monthly pension of former MPs has been hiked from Rs 25,000 to Rs 31,000. The notification further says that the additional pension for every year of service of an MP in excess of five years of service would now be Rs 2,500 a month instead of Rs 2,000. Ironically, the revision of MPs’ salaries and allowances came on a day when the Rajya Sabha remained fully dysfunctional and the Lok Sabha partly. The revision has been notified under the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act on the basis of Cost Inflation Index specified in the Income while acting on the “critical and alarming inputs suggesting likelihood of breach of peace at the protest sites”. The Punjab Police and local administration worked to disperse the protesting farmers from Shambhu and Khanauri without resorting to “strong force whatsoever”. The action was necessary to prevent the breach of peace continued on page 10 MP ENTITLEMENTS ■ RAIL TRAVEL: One free non- transferable First Class AC or Executive Class pass for travel on any train at any time ■ ROAD TRAVEL: Mileage at the rate of ~16 per km ■ AIR TRAVEL: 34 free domestic flights per year Tax Act of 1961. The last MP salary and allowance revision — and the most substantial one — was done by the BJP-led NDA regime in 2018 when then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced across-theboard hike in the salaries of the President, Vice-President, Governors and MPs. Jaitley had proposed a law to standardise the salary of MPs and provide for an automatic revision every five years by indexing it to inflation. The President’s salary was c m y b then raised from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh; Vice-President’s from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 4 lakh and Governors from Rs 1.10 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh. While piloting the Bill at the time, Jaitley had famously said it would protect MPs from the criticism of taking a raise. As per this law, the MPs ’ salary revision, which last happened on April 1, 2018, was due on April 1, 2023. This explains why Monday’s notification says the salary revision of MPs would apply from April 1, 2023. Today’s notification would also mean a broad upward revision in other allowances the MPs get. The 2018 revision had increased the constituency allowance of MPs from Rs 45,000 to Rs 70,000 and office allowance from Rs 45,000 to Rs 60,000. These allowances will rise further now. Emergency brakes applied after glitch; aircraft grounded OVER 30 PASSENGERS WERE ON BOARD ■ DGP Atul Verma was also on the Delhi-Shimla flight, which landed at 8.22 am ■ There were over 30 passengers, who were allowed to de-board only after 8.40 am landing, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said he learnt from the police that the Delhi-Shimla fight made an emergency landing at the Jubbarhatti airport this morning. “I was told that the emergency brakes had to be applied for landing as the tyre of the plane burst during landing,” said Sukhu. Director General of Police Atul Verma was on the DelhiShimla flight which landed at 8.22 am. The passengers were allowed to de-board only after 8.40 am. There were over 30 continued on page 10 SCformstaskforce onstudentsuicides DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday took note of the recurring cases of student suicides in higher educational institutions and formed a task force to address the mental health concerns of students. It also directed the Delhi Police to register an FIR on the complaints of the family members of two students who died by suicide at IITDelhi in 2023. INSIDE NEW