SAMBALPUR l friday l august 21, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l CITY EDITION in tit-for-tat, india pulls down stuctures outside pak mission Indian authorities carried out the demolition as the structures were beyond the Pakistani high commission’s approved boundary limit illegal barricades outside compound action comes amid deep freeze in ties Authorities used a JCB machine to remove the structures and barricades erected along the lane outside the compound, including queuemanagement installations near the visa section. The move came after Pakistan removed parking poles outside the Indian mission in Islamabad this week. Visuals showed that the demolition left a trail of rubble ■ ■ The visa section remained visible amid the debris, with service windows marked “Window 1”, “Pakistani Passport Only” and “Window-5 / Collection of Visa Applications The action by Pakistani authorities and subsequent demolition of the unauthorised structures by India came amid a deep freeze in relations May 2025 is when india’s op Sindoor hit terror infra in Pakistan 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 Former SC judge Subhash Reddy Shah moots Brahmaputra, to head panel on police excesses Godavari, Cauvery linking s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi A five-member high-powered committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy will examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters in Delhi recently and violence against police personnel. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said its order on August 18, uploaded on Thursday, that the committee would also comprise former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi High Court Judge Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi K Shukla and retired Meghalaya DGP L R Bishnoi. The bench passed the order on a batch of pe- No bar to inquiries The bench said the constitution of the committee shall not debar police authorities from taking disciplinary action against any of their officers found to be in contravention of rules governing their conduct. titions filed by lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi and others challenging police excesses on Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protesters and students at Jantar Mantar on July 20. The court recommended that the panel prioritise examination of alleged police excesses as well as violence on the R Subhash Reddy, Former SC judge part of protesters and allegations of harassment and molestation of women agitators. The panel may also examine issues pertaining to the grant of interim compensation to those injured on either side, the court added. The court added that the panel’s work will not be a one-time exercise, but a continuous assessment of issues flagged by by the petitioners. “This HPEC has been constituted bearing in mind a wide variety of considerations, including the individual expertise and experience of each of its members, as well as the diversity of the Committee, among other factors. We are confident that the committee will be able to undertake a comprehensive assessment of all such issues as merit due contemplation,” the bench said. UGC equity regulations under review, says govt Adulterated paneer rampant in Twin City, 7200 kg seized in raids SUCHITRA KALYA N MOHA N TY Ahead of the festive season, the state government has intensified food safety inspections across Twin City Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, leading to the seizure of around 72 quintal suspected adulterated paneer worth over `18 lakh along with 66 kg stale, unhygienic food over the past two days. Food Safety commissioner Poma Tudu had asked officials to strengthen enforcement activities against food safety violations and initiate appropriate legal action against establishments. Officials said, a joint enforcement team of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), led by health officer Nupendra Satpathy conducted raids on August , 18 and 19 after routine food safety checks in the CDA area revealed the presence of around one quintal suspected adulter- @ New Delhi THE Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it was ‘reconsidering’ the 2026 University Grants Commission (UGC)’s equity regulations, which were formulated to prevent caste-based discrimination on campuses. On January 29, the apex court had directed that the regulations be kept in abeyance, after prima facie observing that they were vague and could be misused. When the matter came up on Thursday Solicitor General , Tushar Mehta told the SC that the Union government was actively reconsidering the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations 2026, which were formulated to address castebased discrimination in colleges and universities. Mehta requested the bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana to defer the formulation of questions to be determined until the process is over. Taking into record Mehta’s submissions, the court asked the UGC to file a counter affidavit within four weeks. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the mothers of Rohit Vemula and Payal Tadvi, who died by suicide allegedly due to caste discrimination, sought a timeline for the Centre’s decision. The UGC regulation had triggered protests among students from non-reserved categories, who demanded its rollback. They opposed Regulation 3(1)(c), which restricted castebased discrimination as something “only on the basis of caste or tribe” against members of SCs, STs, and OBCs. express read Ladakh set to get J&K High Court bench New Delhi: The UT of Ladakh will soon have a high court bench, home minister Amit Shah said on Thursday. Announcing the Union Cabinet’s decision through a post on X, Shah said the bench would significantly enhance access to legal services for people living in the geographically challenging region by reducing the time and distance involved in seeking judicial relief. “The government is fully committed to the allround development of Ladakh and to ensuring constitutional safeguards,” Shah said. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar/Cuttack Bundles of adulterated paneer hang from a van ated paneer at a hotel. Further inquiry revealed the paneer was being supplied through autorickshaws and sourced from Niali area. The CMC food safety wing then carried out joint raids at several locations, including Press Chhak and Link Road railway line area, where traders allegedly parked vehicles and supplied adulterated paneer to different shops and hotels through auContinued on P7 torickshaws.  Delimitation: TN CM seeks Centre’s legal assurance E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @ Chennai Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday made a grand pitch for linking major rivers, including the Brahmaputra in the Northeast, with the Cauvery and Godavari in Peninsular India, saying such an initiative could ensure that India faces no water shortage for the next 100 years. Chairing the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council here, Shah said protecting the interests of individual states was not wrong, but questioned the rationale of states remaining deprived of water for years while surplus water elsewhere flowed into the sea. He said river-linking could help overcome such situations and also facilitate the creation of multiple waterways, reducing fuel consumption, benefiting the environment and providing a cost-effective system of transportation. Stating that the southern states have been the main pillars of India’s progress, Shah said, “Whether it is agriculture, industry healthy citizens , or the environment, water is the soul of this region in all these four areas.” As for inter-state water dis- The South has many excellent traditions in the fields of innovation and revenue generation. India should learn from the South in these two areas E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @ Chennai Amit Shah TN CM Joseph Vijay greets Union home minister Amit Shah at Kovalam | Express Dropout rate Shah also stressed the need to tackle school dropouts, malnutrition and stunting, saying the national school dropout rate of 9.5% should be brought below 3% through incremental effort by all states putes in the North, he said five of the eight issues had persisted since the pre-British era. An agreement was finally reached five months ago, resolving all issues from Kashmir to UP . Shah called for the early resolution of pending water-related issues in the South through joint meetings of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Home Affairs, Inter-State Council and the concerned states. Chief ministers C Joseph Vijay N Chandrababu Naidu, D K , Shivakumar and V D Satheesan, Lt Governors K Kailashnathan, Admiral (Retd.) D K Joshi and Telangana deputy CM Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka attended the meeting. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday urged the Union government to provide a clear legislative assurance that no state would suffer a reduction in its percentage of representation in Parliament because of its success in population stabilisation. Addressing the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council at Kovalam near Chennai, Vijay said the southern states had been at the forefront of population stabilisation, human development and economic growth, and that their achievements in fulfilling national priorities should not result in a reduction in their parliamentary representation. His remarks came against the backdrop of the approaching end of the freeze on the allocation of Lok Sabha seats based on the 1971 Census and push to pass the Delimitation Continued on P7 Bill 2026.