vijayawada l saturday l march 16, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION competition panel to probe Google play store billing policy Google’s ‘User Choice Billing’ system offers an illusory choice for users to go for an alternative billing option next to its billing system, CCI said PIC: p RAVI KUMAR policies implemented are arbitrary Section 4 of competition act violated Google announced that app developers offering digital content can offer alternative billing systems alongside its billing system. The updated policies of Google have been alleged to be discriminatory and unfair, which disrupt competition in the downstream app markets and continue to favour its own apps in the payment market, the CCI noted ■ ■ Developers alleged that Google’s payment policies are impacting them and the payment processors. CCI said Play Store’s billing policies are in violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act On March 1, Google started removing apps from its Play Store for not paying platform fees. It later rolled back its decision 60 days time given to finish probe and file report on google’s practices 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 ED arrests BRS’ Kavitha in Delhi liquor scam case Takes her to nat’l capital for questioning after daylong raid in Hyd Kejriwal’s bid to get out of ED case fails E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad K av i th a K a l va k u n t l a , daughter of BRS head and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday at her residence in Hyderabad in a money laundering case connected to the Delhi liquor scam after hours of searches. After her arrest at 5.20 pm under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, she was shifted by the ED to Delhi from the Shamshabad airport. Her legal team is expected to challenge the arrest in the Supreme Court on Saturday . The arrest came as a surprise and happened while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was holding a roadshow in the other end of the city . Twelve ED officials, including two women officers, carried out the searches at her residence and seized five mobile phones before arresting her. Her husband D R Anil Kumar was informed in person about the arrest. ED sources said around 6 pm, around 20 people including lawyers, a person who claimed he was Kavitha’s brother, and others entered the premises and created a ruckus. They did not produce any identity proof when asked and violated rules by entering the house without permission, they added. Kavitha’s brother and BRS working president K T Rama Rao, and her cousin and sen- E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi BRS leader K Kavitha after she was arrested in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam in Hyderabad | PTI ior party leader T Harish Rao entered the residence around the time of the arrest. Rama Rao had an argument with ED Deputy Director Bhanu Priya Meena and claimed the agency officials did not have a transit warrant to move her to Delhi. He also alleged that the ED had undermined its undertaking given to the Supreme Court. “You are in serious trouble,” he was heard telling the officials. Speaking to TNIE, Kavitha’s lawyer, P Mohith Rao said “the arrest is illegal, unwarranted and unconstitutional.” He said on September 16, 2023, when the SC was about to pass an order granting specific protection, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, made a statement saying no action would be taken. The statement was sought to be retracted on Friday in the SC, he added. A day before he is due to personally appear before a local court in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s complaint against him for skipping summons in an excise policy scam, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal got no relief from a sessions court on Friday . The court refused to stay the proceedings in the money laundering case filed by the ED. As for exemption from personal appearance in the matter, the judge directed Kejriwal to approach the metropolitan magistrate. Kejriwal had moved the sessions court against the order passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra asking him to appear before her on March 16. The ED had filed two complaints seeking the CM’s prosecution for skipping multiple summonses. The second one pertained to him not honouring summonses 4 to 8 sent under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). SBI must disclose unique codes of e-bonds: SC S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a nty @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday asked the State Bank of India to reveal the unique alphanumberic codes of electoral bonds, which could be used to identify each donation and trace it to the political party it went to. Taking strong exception to SBI’s non-disclosure of this information, the five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said SBI was duty-bound to hand over the full details of electoral bonds, including the unique numbers, to the Election Commission of India as directed by the apex court in its March 11 order. The bench, also comprising judges Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, issued a notice to SBI to explain the reasons for not revealing the unique codes. The matter will be heard again on March 18, by when SBI should also file its reply . Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners, told the bench that its March 11 verdict was clear. “All the details had to be furnished by SBI,” he said. The ruling came while the Bank’s counsel was not present in court The bench wondered why SBI’s counsel was not present. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the bank was not party to the present case. He said SBI’s representatives were there when it had filed an application, which was disposed of US State Dept concern over CAA unwarranted, says MEA Y e s h i s e l i @ New Delhi India on Friday dismissed the US State Department’s concerns over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), whose rules have just been notified. On Thursday, State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said the US is closely monitoring its implementation. “We are concerned about the notification of the CAA on March 11. We are closely monitoring how this Act will be implemented. Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” he said. India’s foreign office bristled at the “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted” US concern, adding CAA is an internal matter of the country . “Lectures by those who have a limited understanding of India’s pluralistic traditions and the region’s post-Partition history are best not attempted. Partners and well-wishers of India should welcome the intent with which this step has been taken,’’ said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs caustically . India notified the CAA on Monday paving the way for grant of citizenship to undocumented Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came into the country before December 31, 2014. “The CAA is about giving citizenship, not about taking citizenship. It addresses the is- State BJP unit seeks seats for ‘trustworthy’ leaders P H a r e e s h @ Vijayawada joy in the air Students in a joyful mood after writing the last Intermediate second year examination in Vijayawada on Friday | Prasant Madugula Citing the ‘irreparable loss’ that the BJP has suffered in the State due to its electoral alliance in the past, leaders from the State unit have urged the national leadership to allot maximum seats to those who have served the saffron party for a long period instead of those who favour the TDP . Several party leaders, including State BJP vicepresidents, have shot off a letter to the party’s national president JP Nadda, resenting the manner in which candidates are being selected for the upcoming elections. According to sources, the State unit is upset that leaders like Garapati Sitaramanjaneya Chowdary (Tapana Chowdary), GVL Narasimha Rao and S Vishnuvar- dhan Reddy are unlikely to be nominated for either the Assembly or Lok Sabha seats. Instead, former MPs CM Ramesh and Y Satyanarayana Chowdary (Sujana Chowdary) as well as former State minister C Adinarayana Reddy have been named as the front-runners for contesting the polls. All of them had joined the BJP after the TDP lost the 2019 elections. While Tapana Chowdary is facing a stiff competition from Sujana Chowdary to contest the Eluru MP seat, Vishnuvardhan Reddy has tried for the Hindupur Lok Sabha or Kadiri Assembly seat. However, he is unlikely to get a ticket. With the yellow party likely to contest the Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat, GVL Narasimha Rao P4 has been left disappointed. Kakinada to witness keen contest between YSRC & JSP S T r i m u r t h u l u @ Kakinada Kakinada district is likely to witness an intense fight between the YSRC and the Jana Sena in the ensuing elections. A keen tussle is expected especially in Pithapuram, the Assembly constituency that JSP chief Pawan Kalyan will contest. According to sources, the ruling party has been chalking out plans to take on the actor-politician and the JSP in the district for more than two months now. It has appointed Lok Sabha MP and regional coordinator PV Midhun Reddy as the in-charge of the election campaign in Pithapuram. Additionally, former MLA and Modi to share dais with Naidu & Pawan after 10 years Prime Minister Narendra Modi, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and JSP chief Pawan Kalyan are set to share a stage after a decade during the ‘Praja Galam’ public meeting at Boppudi near Chilakaluripet in Palnadu district on Sunday. Senior leaders of the three parties inspected the arrangements at the public meeting venue on Friday evening TDP Pithapuram in-charge SVSN Varma’s open rebellion against Pawan contesting the segment may prove beneficial for the YSRC. The party is reportedly in touch with disgruntled TDP and JSP leaders, who are unlikely to get a chance to contest the elections. Besides Pithapuram, the TDPJSP-BJP alliance is expected to apex court was hearing a petition filed by the ECI on Thursday seeking retur n of the sealed covers containing data submitted by political parties regarding bonds encashed by them. The poll body said it had deposited the data with Supreme Court registry in compliance with the court’s earlier orders. It needs the data back now to comply with the SC’s March 11 order to publish the full details on its website, it said. The ECI added it has not make gains in Prathipadu, Peddapuram, Jaggampeta and Kakinada Rural constituencies. On the other hand, the ruling party will give a tough fight to the tripartite alliance in Tuni and Kakinada city segments. Around a month ago, the YSRC formed teams to identify and coordinate with miffed leaders, sources said. Observing that the TDP too, had , capitalised on the dissidence that brewed within the YSRC after it announced coordinators for the Lok Sabha and Assembly segments, sources said, “The YSRC is now doing the same.” The ruling party is reportedly trying to make the most out of the rebellion of Jaggampeta JSP incharge Patamsetty Suryachandra who was disappointed over the allocation of the segment to former MLA Jyothula Venkata Apparao (Nehru). According to sources, Suryachandra has been closely moving with SVSN Varma, who is in touch with YSRC Kakinada MLA Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar Reddy . sue of statelessness, provides human dignity and supports human rights,’’ Jaiswal added. India has reiterated that the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all its citizens. There are no grounds for any concern on treatment of minorities. Vote bank politics should not determine views about a laudable initiative to help those in distress, he added. “The Citizenship Amendment Act is an internal matter of India and is in keeping with India’s inclusive traditions and our longstanding commitment to human rights,” Jaiswal said. The Act, he added, grants a safe haven to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. kept a copy of the data to uphold the confidentiality nature of the sensitive data. According to reports, the ECI had submitted over 500 sealed envelopes containing data on electoral bonds to the SC in 2019 and in 2023. In response to the poll body’s application, the bench directed the the Registrar (judicial) to return the original documents along with a copy in digital format to enable the ECI to upload the additional data on electoral bonds on its website. The registry will also keep a digital copy for its records, the bench said. It asked the Registrar to complete the digitisation process by 5 pm Saturday. Once this is done, the originals shall be returned to the ECI, it added. express read Lok Sabha poll dates to be announced today New Delhi: The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls and some state assemblies on Saturday at 3 pm. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and the new House has to be constituted before that timeline. The terms of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Sikkim, and Odisha assemblies end in June | P9 Govt plans to evacuate Indians stranded in Haiti New Delhi: India is considering evacuating up to 90 of its nationals from Haiti due to the worsening law and order situation, sparked by numerous criminal gangs orchestrating attacks on key installations, including airports, prisons, and police stations, in an effort to compel Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign | P7
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