March 26 Operational date for the new norms MADURAI l friday l February 27, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE city EDITION No addl fee for changes within 48 hours of air ticket booking You can now cancel or change air tickets without additional charge within 48 hours of booking, subject to certain conditions, the DGCA said | P7 Facility if departure date is over 7 days Fliers will get a ‘look-in option’ for 48 hours after booking tickets. During this period, a passenger can cancel or amend the ticket without additional charges. “This facility shall not be available for a flight whose departure is less than 7 days for domestic flight and 15 days for international flight from booking date when ticket is booked directly through airline website” | P9 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 Late-night hearing over ‘Kerala Story’ sion bench, the producer submitted that the court should HOURS after a single judge of allow the release as the film is the Kerala High Court stayed scheduled to be screened in the release of the movie ‘Kera- more than 1,800 theatres across la Story 2: Goes Beyond’, a divi- the country and in 355 centres sion bench held a late-night abroad. If the film is not reemergency hearing of an ap- leased on the scheduled date, peal filed by producer the makers would sufVipul Amrutlal Shah, fer financial losses. seeking to quash the Counsel for the prosingle judge’s order. ducers submitted that There is a The bench, comprising possibility that the single judge erred j u s t i c e s S u s h r u t Kerala, otherwise in substituting his own known for its Arvind Dharmadhikaassessment of the communal ri and P V Balakrishnan, film’s content for the harmony, may be expert determination reserved its order. perceived as a Earlier in the day, of the Central Board of hub of fanaticism Justice Bechu Kurian Film Cer tification Thomas had stayed the (CBFC) to examine and Justice Thomas release of the film for certify films for public 15 days. The single judge passed exhibition. the order on petitions filed by Senior counsel Neeraj KisSreedev Namboodiri of Kan- han Kaul, appearing for Shah, nur and Freddy V Francis of said: “Today, we are 75 years Ernakulam, challenging the into the republic. Are we so theatrical, digital and satellite frail that we can say portrayal release. of a social evil will scandalise In the appeal before the divi- the faith?” E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kochi Israel ties Spl strategic partnership deal done J ayanth J aco b @ New Delhi India and Israel on Thursday elevated their ties to a “Special Strategic Partnership” during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second state visit to Israel in nine years. The move signals a deepening of cooperation across defence, trade, technology and regional connectivity even as both sides un, derscored shared concerns over terrorism and instability in the Middle East. Following delegation-level talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, Modi described the relationship as “time-tested” and rooted in trust and democratic values. A series of agreements were signed to boost collaboration in trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payments. The two sides agreed to work towards finalising a “mutually beneficial” free trade agreement. Modi also announced the launch of a new partnership on critical and emerging technologies, aimed at accelerating cooperation in AI, quantum technologies and critical minerals. “I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel,” Modi said, referring to India’s digital payments interface, in a move expected to strengthen fintech linkages. Security cooperation remained central to the talks. Modi reiterated India’s firm opposition to terrorism in all forms. “India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted,” he said. At the same time, Modi reaffirmed India’s support for peace efforts in Gaza. “India’s stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts,” he said. SC orders ban, seizure of NCERT book S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Thursday imposed a “complete blanket ban” on the NCERT’s Class 8 social science book containing a controversial section on ‘corruption in the judiciary’, and issued a contempt notice to the NCERT director and Secretary, Department of School Education. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant held that the book contains “offending” material not suitable for young students in their formative years. “As an abundant precaution, a complete blanket ban is hereby imposed on any further publication re: printing or digital dissemination of the book titled ‘Exploring Society, India and Beyond’,” said the order by the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi. The SC ordered that all physical and digital copies of the book in circulation— including those held in storage, retail outlets, or educational institutions—be immediately seized and removed from public access. During the hearing, the bench observed that publication of the book with offending references amounts to criminal contempt of court. The court directed the NCERT to submit the members of the national syllabus committee who approved the “offending chapter”, names of the textbook development team responsible for drafting the chapter, and the original minutes of all meetings where the chapter was deliberated and finalised. All these must be produced on March 11, the next date of hearing, it said. “It is my duty as head of the institution to find out who is DMK may give 28 seats to Congress P ra b hakar Tamilarasu @ Chennai New plan clicks as India score highest WC total | P13 Today’s Match 7pm: England vs New Zealand (Colombo) Amid a quiet tug-of-war between the DMK and Congress over sharing of seats for the Assembly poll, the DMK is likely to offer 28 seats to the national party, sources said. The ruling party may invite Congress for talks in the next few days to finalise the deal. “There would Prosecution sanction against PC E xpress N ews S ervice @ New Delhi With the Centre granting sanction to prosecute former Union finance minister P Chidambaram in two separate money laundering cases, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday shared the orders with a special court in New Delhi and urged it to expedite trials. Prosecution sanction in the INX Media and Aircel-Maxis deal cases were grant- ed on February 10. The agency has approached Centre to get prosecution sanction following a Supreme Court verdict in November 2024, which held that prosecution sanction under Section 197(1) of the CrPC is mandatory even for complaints filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. In the INX Media case, the ED began probe under PMLA in 2017 based on a case filed by the CBI against INX Media. be a nominal increase. We may offer up to 28 seats,” a senior DMK leader told TNIE. DMK may finalise seat-sharing agreements with all its allies in a week’s time before the commencement of nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, including for six MP seats from Tamil Nadu. Although the DMK and Congress have not come to a con- sensus on the number of seats, both parties would find a common ground and seal the alliance talks, party sources said. “We (DMK and Congress) will find a common ground. It would not be possible for DMK to accommodate new entrants into the alliance if we increase the seats substantially for the Congress party,” the senior DMK leader said.  MORE ON P4 responsible; heads must roll… We won’t close the case,” the CJI said, adding, “We would like to have a deeper probe.” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed the court that the chapter had already been withdrawn and only 32 copies had reached the market. Blaming the NCERT for the goof-up, the bench observed that there appeared to be a deep-rooted conspiracy “They . have fired a gunshot and the judiciary is bleeding.”