Chennai l thursday l may 02, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION SC registry rejects govt’s request to clarify 2G verdict The Centre sought to know whether or not the 2012 judgment bars the allocation of spectrum through means other than public auction Non-auction route for Spectrum allocation Registrar says application misconceived In the 2012 verdict, the Supreme Court observed that public auction should be the preferred method for allocation of public resources like spectrum. The Centre, in its application, sought an exemption from the auction route for the allocation of spectrum for certain non-commercial purposes that allow the government to carry out its sovereign and public interest functions ■ ■ The registry said the Centre’s application was in effect seeking a review of the 2012 verdict in the guise of seeking clarification The registrar termed the application as “misconceived” and said it “does not disclose any reasonable cause for being entertained”. The Centre can now appeal to the court against the registrar’s order Order XV, rule 5 of Supreme Court Rules, 2013 allows the registrar to reject applications CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI No Saptapati? No Hindu marriage: SC TN’s power demand may soon reach 22,000 MW S u c hi t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi In a significant verdict on the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA), the Supreme Court has ruled that the registration of a union will be null and void if a valid ceremony and rituals like the Saptapati, are not performed. A bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih described the Hindu marriage as a samskara and a sacrament which has to be accorded its status as an institution of great value in the society . “A marriage is not an event for ‘song and dance’ and ‘wining and dining’ or an occasion to demand and exchange dowry and gifts by undue pressure S GURUVAN M I K ANAT H AN & S Se n t hi l K u m a r @ Chennai/Nilgiris new records of this year As temperature soars, Tamil Nadu’s power demand and consumption hit a new record of 20,701 mega watt (MW) and 454.320 million units respectively on Tuesday The officials expect the . demand to spike further to 22,000 MW in the coming days. A senior official at Tangedco told TNIE that anticipating the surge, the power utility has initiated proactive measures such as power purchases and strengthening infrastructure. “We have also tied up with private players to procure electricity and will receive 4,500 MW round-the-clock till June,” he said. Despite the efforts, the power grid is under strain due to overload, leading to occasional shutdowns. However, Tangedco hopes to tide over the demand-supply issue without much ado during this summer. As water crisis looms simultaneously, Tangedco’s hydro power generation has also taken a major blow. P5 Date 2024 March 22 March 23 March 29 April 2 April 3 April 4 April 5 April 8 April 17 April 18 April 26 April 30 Demand Consumption (MW) (Million units) 19,409 —— —— —— 19,413 19,455 19,580 20,125 —— 20,341 20,583 20,701 —— 423.79 426.44 430.13 435.85 440.89 441.18 —— 442.74 448.21 451.79 454.32 Street vendors braving the afternoon sun at Koyambedu in Chennai | P Jawahar warm up Wednesday: 440C at karur, TN marks hottest day SV K R I S H NA C H A I TAN YA No of days in april with max temp at 40°C or more Marking no respite from the prolonged heatwave, Karur and Dharmapuri districts of Tamil Nadu registered an all-time record for the month of May with a sizzling 440C and 41.50C respectively on Wednesday. While Vellore clocked 43.7 0C and Erode stood at 43.60C, Tiruchy marked 43.10C on its second hottest day so far. Chennai’s Meenambakkam weather station also recorded its first above 400C day of this season on Wednesday with maximum temperature at 40.70C. The state, especially its north interior districts, is going through one of the longest and hottest heatwaves, with maximum temperature above normal. The regional meteorological centre (RMC) said there is some relief in sight next week with thunderstorm activity set to bring pre-mon- District Days Erode 27 Karur 22 Tirupattur 19 Salem 19 @ Chennai Record L2.10 lakh crore GST collection in April M o n ik a Ya d a v @ New Delhi 17 15 14 13 The monthly gross GST collection crossed the `2 lakh crore milestone for the first time in April, giving the government bragging rights over the health of the economy . The record jump came from a 12.4% rise as compared to April last year’s figures of `1.87 lakh crore. The surge was mainly driven by a strong 13.4% growth in domestic transactions and an 8.3% increase in imports, the finance ministry said. “After accounting for refunds, the net GST revenue for April 2024 stands at `1.92 lakh crore, reflecting an impressive 15.5% growth compared to the same period last year,” the ministry’s statement said. When the GST system was rolled out in 2017-18, the month- soon showers. P Senthamarai Kannan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, RMC told TNIE this summer has been “unusually” hot. The north interior districts experienced more days with a maximum temperature above 40 0C. “A temperature analysis of April shows Erode sizzled with mercury above 400C on 27 days and Karur on 22 days,” he said. He added that the hot and humid conditions will prevail for another three to four days before isolated moderate rains bring relief from May 6. Continued on P5 Four of a family killed in car accident at Erode E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Erode A couple and their two children were killed after a car driven by a college student crashed into their vehicle near Sathyamangalam in Erode district on Tuesday night. The student and her three co-passengers were also injured. All four, aged 21, are in their final year at a private engineering college in Sathyamangalam. Police said they are yet to confirm if the driver was inebriated when the accident occurred. The deceased were identified as K Murugan (35), his wife Ranjitha (30), their son Abhishek (8), and daughter Nitisha (7), of Jadaiyampalayam in Sirumugai of Coimbatore. The injured are P Aksara of Hosur, P Mohan of Anna Nagar West in Chennai, R Sujith of Line Medu in Salem, and V Vishal Bathri of Koduvai in Tiruppur. “The students were on their way back to Sathyamangalam after dining at a restaurant near Bhavanisagar. Sujith is the owner of the car and Aksara was driving it. A case has been filed,” police said. Murugan was a mosquito net manufacturer, added police. The family went to Karur by car on Tuesday morning and was returning to Sirumugai that night. At 11 pm, when they reached Weaver’s Colony on Sathyamang alam-Mettupalayam Road, the students’ vehicle hit their car. P5 the marriage certificate in the case — both are trained commercial pilots — said that since it was issued in the absence of ceremonial requirements under Section 7 of HMA, it was invalid. It also quashed the divorce petition filed by the man and the maintenance case instituted by the woman. Maharashtra led the mop-up chart followed by Karnataka, Gujarat Dharmapuri 18 Vellore Tiruchy Namakkal Tiruthani leading to possible initiation of criminal proceedings thereafter. A marriage is not a commercial transaction. It is a sole m n f o u n d a t i o n a l eve n t celebrated so as to establish a relationship between a man and a woman who acquire the status of a husband and wife for an evolving family in future which is a basic unit of Indian society the bench said. ,” The court made these observations after hearing a petition filed by a woman seeking transfer of her divorce case from Muzaffarpur in Bihar to Ranchi in Jharkhand. The couple had registered their marriage in UP without the valid ceremonial wedding under the HMA. The bench, after perusing 1.87 2.10 Gst collection (in `lakh crore) 2023-24 2024-25 1.65 1.59 1.62 1.72 1.67 1.64 1.74 1.68 1.78 1.57 1.61 APR may jun jul aug sep ly mop-up used to be in the range of `80,000-90,000 crore. It crossed `1 lakh crore mark for the first time in October 2018. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharam a n at t r i bu t e d t h e record to “the strong momentum in the economy and efficient tax collections”. Pratik Jain, Partner, PwC India said: “As expected, the collections for April ’24 have crossed a major milestone of 2 lakh crore. It is particularly encouraging to see that that growth is largely led by domestic consumption. With the next four students injured In the other car were four final year students of a private engineering college in Sathyamangalam. Police are yet to confirm if the driver was inebriated when the accident occurred on Tuesday night jan feb mar wave of GST reforms expected after the formation of the new Government, the growth may be further accelerated.” He added that it may also enable the government to take bolder decisions such as rate rationalisation or bringing products such as ATF and natural gas under the GST ambit. Abhishek Jain, Partner & National Head, Indirect Tax, KPMG, attributed this surge to the deadline for GST audits and corresponding notices issued during this year. Maharashtra led the GST mop-up chart followed by Karnataka and Gujarat. Seal symbol loading units as per SC order, says EC M U K E S H RAN J AN @ New Delhi While K Murugan, his wife Ranjitha, and their son Abhishek died on the spot, their daughter Nitisha passed away while being shifted to a private hospital from the GH | Express oct nov dec The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday asked all state chief electoral officers (CEOs) to seal and securely store the symbol loading units (SLUs), to be used in the remaining five phases of the Lok Sabha elections, till 45 days post the declaration of results. The SLUs are devices used to load candidates’ party symbols to the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). The Supreme Court had in its verdict on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and VVPATs last week, directed the ECI to seal and secure the SLUs for 45 days after the declaration of results. At present, only the EVMs and VVPATs are sealed and stored to allow for examination of the machines if candidates file election petitions. But from now on, in compliance with the court’s order, SLUs will also be examined, if there is an election petition. As per sources, the new requirement could lead to a shortage of up to 3,000 SLUs for the last two phases. Sources said to meet the shortfall, the Election Commission has asked the Bharat Electronics and the Electronics Corporation of India to manufacture more SLUs. The bench disapproved the increasing practice of couples getting their ‘marriages’ registered for “practical purposes” like applying for a visa and solemnising the union later. Young men and women must “think deeply about the institution of marriage even before they enter upon it and as to how sacred the said institution is, in Indian society the bench ,” said. Describing marriage as sacred as it provides a lifelong, dignity-affirming, equal, consensual and healthy union of two individuals, the bench said a Hindu marriage facilitates procreation, consolidates the unit of family and solidifies the spirit of fraternity within various communities. e x p r e ss r e a d Accused in Salman firing dies by suicide Mumbai: One of the four men arrested in connection with the shooting incident outside actor Salman Khan’s Bandra house died by suicide on Wednesday at the crime branch lock-up at Mumbai police commissioner’s office, the police said. Anuj Thapan, accused of supplying weapons to the shooters, was found hanging in the toilet of the lock-up. He was declared dead at a nearby hospital, the police said | P9 ECI bars KCR from campaigning New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Wednesday reprimanded Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) president K Chandrashekar Rao and barred him from campaigning for 48 hours for his “objectionable” remarks against the Congress. The EC said his remarks at a press conference in Sircilla on April 5, during which he used foul language to attack the Congress, were violative of provisions of the model code of conduct 3 workers killed in warehouse blast VIrudhunagar: At least three workers were killed in a blast at a private explosives storage warehouse, operating near a stone quarry, in Aviyur of Virudhunagar on Wednesday. Officials said mishandling of explosives would have led to the accident. Even as the number of workers present at the spot during the blast is yet to be ascertained, bodies of three, scattered across the blast site, were identified | P2 ‘Old tiger’ roars as Congress seeks to remove the scent of Ajmal in Dhubri @ Guwahati It will be a battle for survival for Assam’s most visible Muslim face nationally, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, when Dhubri goes to parliamentary elections on May 7. The 68-year-old, who is the threetime sitting MP and chief of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), is facing a challenge from Rakibul Hussain, a former Congress minister. Zabed Islam of the Asom Gana Parishad is t h e N D A’ s c o n s e n s u s candidate. Dhubri is considered the heartland of Bengali-speaking migrant Muslims. It shares a border with Bangladesh. The outcome of the polls will decide not only the future of Ajmal but also his party . Over the past few years, a section of AIUDF supporters migrated to other parties, disillusioned that he is allegedly running it as a business enterprise. Ajmal is a perfume baron with business interests in India and some Gulf countries. The AIUDF also contested Nagaon and Karimganj, both Muslim-majority seats which went to polls on April 26. Critics say the party set up candidates in these seats primarily to aid the ruling BJP The BJP . and the Congress were the two main players in Nagaon and Karimganj. The Congress is trying to send across a message that Ajmal is an “old tiger” and that the AIUDF is the “B Team” of the BJP It is telling voters that . they have to stop Ajmal first if Illustration: Mandar Pard ik ar P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r they want to evict the BJP from power in the state. But Ajmal has many advantages. He is rich and known widely as a philanthropist. A virtual messiah of the migrant Muslims, he has been at the forefront every time the community faced any hardships, including during the time when the 1951 National Register of Citizens or NRC was updated in the state. He had comfortably won the past three elections in the absence of strong opponents. But Hussain is expected to give the AIUDF chief a run for his money this time around. For Hussain, who holds sway in parts of central Assam, it is his maiden parliamentary election. Since decades, the Congress had been influential in Dhubri and the adjoining Goalpara and Barpeta districts. Then, it slowly lost the space to the AIUDF. If Hussain wins, it could well be the first step for the Congress towards regaining the lost ground. “Badruddin Ajmal is an old tiger. He woos people through magical healing but it will not keep him in a good stead this election,” Hussain claimed. But Ajmal dismissed the old tiger barb by saying that a tiger is a tiger, whether young or old. “I am young enough to marry again,” he said. He predicted that Hussain’s defeat is “100% certain”. “Nobody can defeat Ajmal in Dhubri. I will win by 5 to 6 lakh votes,” he said confidently .
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