kottayam l thursday l march 14, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Investors lose `13.47 lakh cr in single day as markets crash Nifty plummeted 1.51% to 21,997.7 and Sensex fell 900 points as the markets witnessed selling pressure amid a sharp fall in smallcaps, midcaps file photo sTreet sees red as sectoral indices tank Utility, energy and metal stocks witnessed heavy losses. Though the benchmark indices began on a positive note, post lunch all sectoral indices closed in red. Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Airtel, Titan, RIL, HUL were the losers in the Sensex. The BSE Smallcap gauge fell by 5.11% and midcap index fell by 4.2%. Only 400 stocks advanced | P12 ■ 3,516 spooked by SEBI’s statement on froth ■ A few days ago, SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch had said that there are “pockets of froth” in the small- and mid-cap stocks Banking veteran Uday Kotak tried to assuage investors saying there may be some ‘early froth’ but the markets are not out of control. Froth is the market condition that appear prior to a bubble STOCKS FELL on Wednesday as the markets witnessed heavy selling 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 Nitish in, Rohini panel report on back burner Centre offers `5k cr with riders. No, says govt E xp r e ss News Se r v i c e @T’Puram In a bold move, the state gover nment, in the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected , the Union government’s conditional offer of additional borrowing worth `5,000 crore in this financial year as a one-time measure, and reiterated the demand for its legal entitlement of at least `10,000 crore. The SC will hear the state government’s plea for interim relief on March 21. At the hearing, Additional Solicitor General N Venkata- OBC sub-categorisation was earlier seen as counter to caste census P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi With the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government back in the NDA, the Modi government seems to have put the much vaunted Rohini commission report on ‘revising the reservation percentage of OBCs’ on the back burner. It was widely believed that the Centre would implement the panel report on sub-categorisation of OBCs to counter the Bihar government’s caste survey data which was published in October last year. The Bihar caste data, which pegged the backward caste population at 63%, sparked a renewed demand from the Opposition for a nationwide caste census and review of reservation for the backward classes. While the Union government was noncommittal in a national caste census, it was looking to woo the most backward classes by implementing the Rohini committee report and conferring some benefits on them, a source said. However, the report, which was submitted to the government last July is yet to be pub, Justice (Retd) G Rohini Terms of reference The panel’s terms of reference included examining the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among OBCs in Central List and to work out a scientific mechanism, criteria, norms and parameters for sub-categorisation within the OBC community lished. It is learnt that the report revealed that less than 1% of dominant backward castes have cornered 50% of the reservation benefits in admissions to central educational institutions and recruitment to central services. Of the 2,600 com- Friday date for SC hearing against EC search panel munities in the central OBC list, 938 sub-castes have no representation in reserved seats. For equitable distribution of benefits, the commission has proposed to divide OBCs into subgroups with separate reservation percentages. However, sources said with Nitish Kumar’s re-entry into the NDA, BJP is confident of defusing the caste challenges from the Opposition. “BJP’s main worry was the consolidation of the Extremely Backward Caste (EBC) vote bloc in Bihar. With Nitish, a Kurmi leader, back in NDA, the party need not worry about the political ramifications of caste census. So it will keep the Rohini panel report in cold storage for the time being. The government is aware that the report will lead to political realignments as it sub-categorises all OBC groups,” said a leader. The Rohini commission was tasked with putting together a comprehensive pool of scientific data on sub-categories to as to ensure equitable redistribution of the 27% quota benefits for the OBCs among all subcommunities. THE Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on Friday a batch of petitions filed challenging the Chief Election Commissioner Act, 2023, which had dropped the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the selection committee to pick the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs). The Act was challenged by various petitioners, including the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Congress leader Dr Jaya Thakur and others. The hearing comes at a time when the government is expected to fill two vacancies of election commissioners soon to ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The search panel would include the prime minister, a cabinet minister nominated by the PM and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. CJI was excluded from the new law which came into force in January . Last week, election commissioner Arun Goel put in his papers three years before his tenure was to end. Mystery shrouds his exit as he was in line for promotion as the chief election commissioner after incumbant Rajiv Kumar’s retirement in February next year. Last month, his colleague Anup Chandra Pandey had retired. RA J E SH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi The BJP repeated three Union ministers and fielded one minister for the first time in the Lok Sabha elections, in its second list of candidates for 72 seats in 10 states. Union Minister Piyush Goyal will make his début from the safest of Lok Sabha seats — North Mumbai. The party repeated Union ministers Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur, Anurag Thakur from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur Exemption E X P R E SS N E W S S E R V IC E IN a setback to the Congress, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday upheld the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)’s decision not to stay the tax demand notice to the grand old party for recovery of over `100 crore dues for the 2018-19 assessment year. A division bench of judges Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said there appears to be no fundamental infirmity in the ITAT order of March 8 and rapped the Congress for its lackadaisical approach to the tax demand. The tax department’s proceedings against the Congress had Congress had declared ‘nil’ income for AY2018-19 claiming exemption of H199 cr under Section 13A, which allows political parties to accept donations without tax liability. But I-T dept rejected it as return was filed late and cash donations was above H2K started in 2021 but the party did not do anything for two years, the court noted. “An assessee in default can neither be permitted nor expected to adopt such a casual or lackadaisical approach while faced with a tax demand which had remained outstanding right from 2021 and in respect of which no protective meas- ures were sought or adopted for almost two years between 2021 and 2023,” the bench said. The HC, however, allowed the Congress to move a fresh stay application before the ITAT bringing to its notice the tax recovery of `65 crore. Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, appearing for Congress, said the action will affect the party ahead of polls and it needs protection from courts. Advocate Zoheb Hossain, appearing for the I-T department, said it is wrong to say the proceedings have begun just before elections. He told the court that the original tax demand was `102 crore and together with interest it rose to `135.06 crore. E X PRE S S RE A D Govt takes over KWA power dues Kochi: Offering a huge relief to the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), the state government has taken over its power dues to the tune of J2,068.07 crore. A government order on Tuesday said KWA’s dues will be released in 10 annual instalments of J206.80 crore each. P7 Drug supply to Koz MCH stops Kozhikode: The All-Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association, Kozhikode, has decided to stop the supply of medicines and surgical devices to the Kozhikode MCH. The move has affected the functioning of the hospital and pushed hundreds of patients into distress. P4 Crowd hurls racial slurs at Ivory Coast footballer @Malappuram A footballer from Ivory Coast was attacked and allegedly called racial slurs by spectators during a match in Malappuram last week, in an incident that threatens to dent Kerala’s image as a progressive state. Hasan Jr, a player from the west African nation, filed a complaint with the Malappuram district police chief on Wednesday in connection with the assault on him during a sevens football match organised at Chemrakkattur in Areekode on March 10. He alleged the spectators hurled racial slurs at him. Hasan has submitted the T’Puram: Continuing its fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, the state government has decided to move the SC seeking to cancel provisions under the legislation. P4 Another condition was that the consent for borrowing in 2024-25 will be issued only if the Kerala government submits certain documents. Also, the consent for borrowing for the first nine months will be issued on a quarterly basis. This would be for up to 25% of eligibility, arrived after deducting `5,000 crore. Opposing the offer, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, the state government’s counsel, said Kerala should get at least `10,000 crore, which was a legal entitlement. He said the Centre’s offer appeared to be a “concession” whereas additional sanction was the state’s entitlement. Through the conditional offer, the Centre was trying to control the state’s expenses, which amounted to violation of the principles of federal● More on P4 ism, Sibal said. Gadkari, Goyal, Anurag Thakur in BJP second list player files complaint E xp r e s s New s Se r v i c e State govt to take addl legal steps against CAA and Pralhad Joshi from HubaliDharwad. Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni will enter the fray from Garhwal in Uttarakhand. As expected, outgoing Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar got the Karnal LS ticket. Besides, for mer chief minister of Karnataka B S Bommai has been fielded from Haveri. Delhi and Karnataka saw the maximum changes in the second list. In Delhi, the party dropped six of its seven sitting MPs while in Karnataka the axe fell on leaders like Anant Hedge and Pratap Simha. In Delhi, two new candidates — Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi and Yogendra Chandolia from North West Delhi — have been fielded to deflect antiincumbency. Sources said the dropped MPs would be made prominent players in the assembly elections against AAP candidates because of their deep and strong local influences. In Karnataka, former chief minister B S Yediyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra will enter the fray from Shimoga while youth wing head Tejasvi Surya has been repeated from Bengaluru South. Yaduveer Krishnadatta Wadiyar, who belongs to the erstwhile Mysore royal family , is the replacement for Pratap Simha in Mysore. Pankaja Munde from Beed in Maharashtra and Shobha Karandlaje from Bangalore North are among the prominent women faces on the list. No relief for Cong as HC junks plea against `100-crore tax recovery @ New Delhi s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi raman informed the SC that the Centre was ready to allow additional borrowing to the state under five stringent conditions, chief of which was that the amount will be a d j u s t e d f ro m t h e state’s net borrowing ceiling for the first nine months in the next fiscal. Also, no ad hoc borrowing will be allowed and that the government should implement Plan B for resource mobilisation before the last quarter of 2024-25. Plan B was a budget announcement of the state government. footage of the mob attack, which went viral, at the SP office. However, eyewitnesses alleged that Hasan beat up one of the audience members during the match, causing the crowd to retaliate. Hasan refuted the claim. “The spectators tried to provoke me using racial slurs and even threw stones. When I responded, they attacked me,” Hasan told reporters after filing the complaint. He said this was the first time in his career that he had faced such an attack. “I feel scared to continue playing in Kerala. I will file a complaint at the Ivory Coast Embassy in New Delhi,” he A videograb of Ivory Coast footballer Hasan Jr being manhandled by spectators during a sevens match in Malappuram on March 10 said. The Malappuram district police chief told TNIE that “maximum punishment will be ensured to those who racially abused the Ivory Coast player and subjected him to brutal mob beating. A special cell will be formed at the Areekode police station for the investigation.” An official with the Areekode police said an FIR has been registered. “We have recorded Hasan’s statement. As per the SP’s instructions, a special probe team will be formed, and action will be taken against culprits after recording witness statements and examining the video circulating on social media,” ● More on P4 the official said. double strike Kerala Blasters FC striker Dimitrios Diamantakos celebrating his 2nd goal against Mohun Bagan Super Giant during the Indian Super League match at JLN Stadium in Kochi on Wednesday. Mohun Bagan won 4-3 | A Sanesh 1,389 govt officials in Kerala faced criminal cases in 5 years T o b y A n t o n y @Kochi Over the past five years, as many as 1,389 government officials have been booked in criminal cases, excluding vigilance probes, in Kerala. Interestingly, around 55% of these cases — 770, to be precise — were registered against police personnel. The related data was presented in the assembly by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during budget session. Overall, officials from 43 state government departments, besides Central government employees, have faced criminal investigation in Kerala since 2019. The education department had the second highest number of officials -- 188 -- accused in criminal cases during the period, followed by the local self-government department (LSGD), with 53 officials. There are 48 cases registered against Central government employees in the state. A retired officer who served in the DGP rank told TNIE that the numerous measures intro- Depts/govt bodies with most cases Police Health KSEB KSRTC Forest Revenue Agri Excise 770 41 39 29 26 26 15 15 Corruption cases registered more among officials with local self-government and cooperation departments, with a high number of them facing vigilance probes. cases 1,028 Corruptionsince 2019. registered against government officials LSGD (216 officials), cooperation (165), revenue (160) on top duced to improve discipline in the Kerala police force do not seem to have achieved the desired result. Being involved with maintaining law and order, police personnel themselves are quite often seen turning lawbreakers. “Multiple criminal cases, including those of a grave nature, are being reported against po- lice officials. But it would be wrong to blame the entire police force. While there would be troublemakers in all forces, the authorities have to identify and sideline them so they don’t have a bad influence on others,” the retired officer said. He said several police officials involved in sexual offences and financial scams were dismissed from service in recent years. “The activities of police personnel should be monitored and corrective steps taken to prevent them from going astray he said. The former of,” ficer also pointed out that many upright officers were targeted with false cases. “We have several examples of false complaints and cases registered against police officers to demoralise them from doing their duty properly There is . tremendous work pressure on each police person now. We know of many honest police officers who take early retirement after struggling to cope with the pressure,” he said.
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