16092025-TTC-01.qxd 9/16/2025 12:51 AM Page 1 13 WILL HIT HAMAS WHEREVER IT IS, SAYS BIBI WORLD /thetribunechd DALLAS MURDER LINKED TO BIDEN’S POLICY BACK PAGE CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 9 NO. 256 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 tuesday | 16 september 2025 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com SC won’t stay Waqf Act, In Pb, Rahul’s ‘Us Paar’ visit cut short but bars some clauses US chief negotiator arrives in Delhi for No bridge to cross Ravi, Cong hires pvt boats; police stall plan citing security bilateraltradetalks Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Puts key five-year Islam practice rule on hold Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 15 The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Waqf (Amendment) Act-2025 that did away with the concept of ‘ Waqf by user’ even as it stalled implementation of certain provisions, including the requirement of being a practising Muslim for five years to dedicate any property for Waqf. “In the totality of the circumstances, we do not find that any case is made out to stay the provisions of the entire statute. The prayer for stay of the impugned Act is, therefore, rejected,” said a Bench of CJI BR Gavai and Justice AG Masih, which had reserved its verdict on May 22. “Not only that, we are also of the view that if the legislature, in 2025, finds that on account of the concept of “Waqf by user”, huge government properties have been encroached upon and to stop the said menace, it takes steps for deletion of the said provision, the said amend- PROMINENT PROVISIONS STALLED ■ The requirement of being a practising Muslim for 5 years under Section 3(r) of the Act to dedicate any property for Waqf ■ Sub-section (2) of Section 3C that allowed an officer to decide a dispute if a Waqf property encroached upon a government property ■ The SC also stays Waqf Act provision that said property should not be treated as Waqf property till the designated officer submits report DIVISIVE LAW AIMED AT STOKING DISHARMONY ❝ It’s a major win... The BJP had sought to enact a divisive law, designed to inflame communal passions & reopen issues that were long settled. Mallikarjun Kharge, CONG CHIEF ment, prima facie, cannot be said to be arbitrary,” it said. ‘ Waqf by user’ was a practice where a property was recognised as a Muslim endowment (Waqf) based on its long-term, uninterrupted use for such purposes, even if there wasn’t a formal, written declaration of Waqf by the owner. The top court also chose not to interfere with the requirement of mandatory registration of Waqfs, saying there was nothing new about it as the condition existed in previous Acts of 1923 and 1995 until 2013. However, in order to protect the interest of all the parties and balance the equities during pendency of the matter, the Bench stayed Section 3(r) that requires a person to be a practitioner of Islam for five years to create a Waqf till state governments framed rules for providing mechanism to determine if a person has been practising Islam for five years or more. continued on page 10 Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi interacts with a flood-affected family during his visit to a village in Amritsar district on Monday. ANI Gurdaspur, September 15 For the past two days, residents of a cluster of seven ‘Us Paar’ (across the Ravi) villages in Gurdaspur were hopeful of sharing their grievances with Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who was scheduled to visit flood-hit Punjab on Monday. While the residents had prepared their list of woes, news surfaced that the visit — Rahul was to travel in an NDRF boat — had been called off due to security reasons. Senior Punjab Police officers cited security inputs from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) as the area was located close to Pakistan, but the Congress cried foul, claiming the Punjab Government and the Centre “wanted to hide the fact that absolutely no relief had reached these villages”. “We had tangible information that Rahul’s visit would be unsafe. That’s why we asked him not to proceed to ‘Us Paar’ from Makoran Pattan village,” said an officer. The decision not to let Rahul cross the Ravi from Makoran Pattan in a boat was taken on MIDNIGHT DRAMA ■ The Cong hired 3 private boats around midnight when it learnt police may not let Rahul travel across the Ravi in NDRF boat ■ The Punjab Police got a whiff of the plan and deputed an SHO to convince the Congress ■ An angry Cong, which wanted Rahul to visit the ‘worst-hit’ area, approached the DGP ■ The police agreed at night, but made a U-turn in the morning Sunday itself during a security meeting held at the Dinanagar SDM’s office. Dinanagar MLA Aruna Chaudhary, Gurdaspur Assistant Commissioner Aditya Gupta, SP(H) Jugraj Singh, SP(D) Gurpartap Singh and Dera Baba Nanak SDM Aaditya Sharma were among those present. Jugraj is learnt to have said that in the absence of a bridge, it was not possible to ferry bullet-proof vehicles to the other side of the river. He suggested restricting the visit till Makoran Pattan. The proposal was backed by the Border Security Force. When Rahul was informed, he is learnt to have insisted on visiting continued on page 10 NEW DELHI: Trump administration's chief negotiator Brendan Lynch arrived here late on Monday. He will hold day-long talks on India-US bilateral trade deal, which were impacted after imposition of 50 per cent import tariffs by the US on Indian goods. The meeting comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly reacted to US President Donald Trump's positive assessment of trade ties between the two countries. BACK PAGE Deadline for ITRs extended by a day as snags hit portal DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday extended the deadline for filing income tax returns (ITRs) for the assessment year 2025-26 by a day. The due date, previously extended from July 31 to September 15, is now September 16. The move comes after taxpayers complained of glitches on the income tax portal on Monday. This extension applies to all categories of taxpayers. INSIDE NEW Handshake row swells, Centre okay with Pak cricket ties Will set aside Bihar SIR exercise if any Pak want referee ousted butdeniesnodtoSikhjatha:Mann illegality found, SCwarns poll panel Dubai, September 15 The Indian players’ refusal to exchange handshakes with their Pakistani counterparts after an Asia Cup clash here snowballed into a major controversy on Monday as an irate Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sought the removal of match referee Andy Pycroft, holding him responsible for the fiasco that has stirred fresh tensions between the two arch-rivals. India captain Suryakumar Yadav had justified his team’s stand after the seven-wicket win on Sunday, stating that it was meant to show solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were gunned down by Pakistan-backed terrorists. This was after the team drew severe backlash for playing against the traditional foes. The PCB reacted angrily to the entire turn of events and after complaining to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), it has now sought the ICC’s intervention. Incidentally, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi is the continued on page 10 edit: No handshake Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 15 Seeking the reopening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and permission for Sikh jathas to visit Nankana Sahib, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today said if the Centre could allow a cricket match between India and Pakistan during the Asia Cup, why could Punjabis not visit their shrines in Pakistan? Mann said he would write to the Centre on the issue soon. This is the second time Demands reopening of Kartarpur corridor ~48 CR RECEIVED IN CM’S RELIEF FUND Punjab has ~48 crore in the CM’s Relief Fund. Mann, reacting to an ad by Indian Advertising Agency seeking aid for state via the PM Cares Fund, said it should come through the CM’s Relief Fund for use in the state only. in the past two days that Mann has spoken against the Indo-Pak match. On Saturday, Mann had questioned the holding of the match, saying if a film of Diljit Dosanjh was banned in the wake of the Pahalgam attack and the actor was called a traitor, how could the match be justified? “If you can allow a cricket match between India and Pakistan during the Asia Cup, why should Punjabis’ devotion towards their shrines in Pakistan be ignored? Either you allow all kinds of relations continued on page 10 c m y b Tribune News Service New Delhi, September 15 Maintaining that it did not want to offer “any piecemeal opinion” on the issue, the Supreme Court on Monday said its judgment on the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in pollbound Bihar would be applicable to the whole country. It warned that the entire SIR exercise in the state would be set aside in case any illegality was found at any stage. Says verdict will apply pan-India FINAL ARGUMENTS ON OCT 7 Posting the petitions challenging the Bihar SIR exercise for hearing final arguments on October 7, the Bench said it presumed that the EC — being a constitutional authority — was following the law during the SIR in Bihar. “Our judgment on the Bihar SIR will be applicable for panIndia SIR,” a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, adding that it could not stop the poll panel from conducting a similar exercise across India. Posting the petitions challenging the Bihar SIR exercise for hearing final arguments on October 7, the Bench said it presumed that the EC — being a constitutional authority — was following the law during the SIR in Bihar. The petitioners wanted the Bench to take up the matter continued on page 10