chennai l saturday l may 02, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION GST kitty swells to record high of `2.43 lakh crore in April Gross GST collection rose 8.7 per cent in April as growth in import-led revenues outpaced domestic transactions, data showed on Friday gst MOP-UP FROM IMPORTS RISES BY 25.8% need to incentivise local manufacturing The previous all-time high GST collection was recorded in April last year at over `2.23 lakh crore. Gross revenues from domestic transactions were up 4.3 per cent to over `1.85 lakh crore, while GST mop-up from imports rose by a massive 25.8 per cent to `57,580 crore in April 2026. Union govt data showed refunds were up 19.3 per cent to `31,793 crore | P10 ■ ■ Total gross CGST and SGST collection in April stood at `52,140 crore and `61,331 crore, respectively. IGST mop-up was at `1.29 lakh cr EY India tax partner Saurabh Agarwal said there is a need to critically re-examine policy frameworks to incentivise domestic manufacturing and ensure ‘Make in India’ keeps pace with global supply chain shifts 7.3% was the jump in net gst mop-up after adjusting for refunds 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 Commercial LPG Spl bench to hear TMC plea on counting today refill cost up by `933 a cylinder e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v ic e @ New Delhi/Kolkata Domestic LPG, petrol, diesel and aviation fuel price for domestic airlines untouched R ak e sh K umar @ New Delhi Days after the latest cycle of polls in a few states ended, oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Friday passed on the global spike in fuel rates due to the West Asia crisis, to the consumers by raising the cost of commercial liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders by a whopping `933 per unit. They, however, left domestic LPG cylinders, petrol, diesel and aviation fuel price for domestic airlines untouched. A 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder will now cost `3,071.50 in Delhi, up from `2,078 CM demands earlier. “Overall, approximately 80% of perollback of troleum products have witnessed no change price hike in prices, ensuring stability for the majorChief Minister ity of consumers,” Indian Oil Corporation MK Stalin on Limited (IOCL) said in a statement. HowFriday criticised ever, since commercial cylinders are used the centre for by hotels, restaurants, and other establishhiking LPG price, ments, their impact cannot be ignored. and said that as But OMCs said price revisions have been predicted before limited to select industrial segments, which the polls, the form a small share of overall consumption union government and are subject to routine monthly adjusthas raised LPG ments based on global benchmarks. This prices immediately includes bulk and commercial LPG cylinafter the elections ders (less than 1% of total consumption). got over. He asked Crude oil prices in the international marthe centre to roll ket have surged sharply, touching a fourback the hike at year high on Thursday amid escalating tenonce | P4 sions in West Asia and the continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — a critical global energy transit route. India, which imports nearly 88% of its crude oil needs, is heavily dependent on this corridor, accounting for about 40% of crude, 50% of LNG, and 90% of LPG imports. Despite this volatility the government indicated that , domestic supplies remain secure. Brent crude futures climbed to $126.41 per barrel — the highest since March 9, 2022 — while WTI crude touched $110.93 earlier in the day Prices later eased, . with Brent trading around $113 per barrel and WTI at $107 per barrel at 8.27 pm IST. For his part, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri refuted charges that energy price may go up further in the near future as polls in several states are over. He said the energy prices are not linked to the elections. A special bench of the Supreme Court will hear on Saturday a plea filed by All India Trinamool Congress against appointment of Central Government and Central PSU employees as counting supervisors and assistants for the West Bengal Assembly elections. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to include West Bengal government employees as counting supervisors for the upcoming assembly election results. Assembly elections The move came a day after the Calcutta High Court dismissed the party’s plea challenging the order by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Under the EC’s directive, issued through the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer, each counting table must include at least one supervisor drawn from the Central government or a PSU. AITC had contended that appointing counting supervisors and assistants from Central G ove r n m e n t a n d Central PSU employee could lead to bias and that “the fiat lacks legal basis.” Following the urgency cited by the ruling TMC, a special bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Pa midighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Joymalya Bagchi has been constituted to hear the matter. The hearing is expected to begin at 8 am. Meanwhile, EC on Friday ordered a repoll at 11 polling booths in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district’s Magrahat Paschim and four booths in Diamond Harbour assembly constituencies. Polling in these constituencies were held in the second phase elections on April 29. The ECI said it had received 32 complaints from Falta, 29 from DH, 13 from Magrahat, and three from Budge Budge in the district. Besides Magrahat, remaining three booths fall under the TMV’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency Officials said that . the complaints include allegations of EVM tampering and attempts to obstruct surveillance cameras. Relatively lower daytime temp in May, higher at night: IMD Jit e n d ra C hou b e y @ New Delhi To Mumbai Khopoli Khandala Mumbai-Pune ‘Missing Link’ Mumbai-Pune Expressway Ghat Tunnel 1 1.67km Tunnel 2 650m Cable-stayed bridge The much-awaited 13.3-km-long “Missing Link” project on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway was inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday Lonavala 8.92km 13.3 km Built to bypass the steep mountain pass section, improve road safety and reduce travel distance, it connects Khopoli on the Mumbai side to Kusgaon near Lonavala in Pune dist Kusgaon Mumbai-Pune missing line To punE The Missing Link project is expected to reduce the Mumbai-Pune travel distance by around 6 km and cut the journey time by 20 to 30 minutes, officials said HC bins plea for case against 7 ex-mins, says it will be ED’s call CM confident of victory Five of a family from TN among amid allies’ posturing for 9 dead in Bargi dam boat tragedy share of power in govt R S I V A K U M A R @ Chennai EXP R E S S N EW S S E R V I C E @ Chennai In a significant ruling, the Madras High Court has held that mere registration of an FIR on a predicate offence does not mandate the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to register a case on money laundering but the subjective satisfaction of the authorised officer of the agency is essential for initiating such proceedings. Dismissing petitions seeking directions to the ED to register Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) based on FIRs registered by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) against seven former AIADMK ministers, the court said the central agency is free to decide on initiating money laundering proceedings under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against them. The ruling was given by the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan on petitions filed by DMK MP R Girirajan seeking ED action on the ex-ministers for alleged misappropriation of public funds. “The registration of FIR in a predicate offence does not ipso facto mandate the ED to register an ECIR, but it is only based on the satisfaction of the authorised officer from the predicate case and the materials available. This court cannot substitute the satisfaction of ED, which is to be arrived at from the materials available, in accordance with PMLA,” the bench said in a recent order. P5 DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin expressed confidence on Friday that his party would win a decisive mandate on May 4. His remarks come amid mixed exit poll forecasts hinting at a hung Assembly and calls for power-sharing from Congress’s TN in-charge, Girish Choda n k a r. M e a n w h i l e , DMDK leader Premalatha Vijayakanth, another DMK ally, said that she will reveal her stance on power-sharing on May 4 after the results. Speaking at an event organised as part of May Day celebration in Chennai, Stalin said, “The benefit of the efforts put in by the party workers will be reaped on May 4. There would be no change. I am saying not just on the basis of exit polls, but on the basis of the feelings of the party workers that I see.” Expressing confidence that P T hirus e lv am @ Tiruchy DMK would return to power, he said, “The results will be out in a couple of days and I believe you all will receive good news.” The state would continue with the DMK’s principle of “everything for everyone”, he added. Meanwhile, rebuffing Chodankar’s assertion that the party will no longer play a neutral role in TN politics, TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai on Friday reiterated the party’s unflinching allegiance to the DMKled Secular Progressive Alliance. The DMK alliance would secure more than 200 seats, Selvaperunthagai said, adding that exit polls are narratives and not the real mood of the people. “Whatever is being said about the result is all said by the media and not by the people. We are confident that CM Stalin will be sworn in as the CM once again,” Selvaperunthagai told reporters.  P5 Express Read TN boy dies after getting locked inside parked car Karur: A three-year-old boy died of suspected suffocation after accidentally getting locked inside a parked car at Kazhugur in Karur district on Thursday. The deceased, Sanjeev, had entered the car while playing and inadvertently locked himself inside, police said | P2 Two killed in lightning strike in Theni district Madurai: Parts of southern and western TN, including Madurai, Theni and Coimbatore, witnessed heavy rainfall and strong winds on Friday. While two persons and two cows died in Theni in lightning strike, rain damaged power networks in parts of Coimbatore on Thursday | P5 Three members of a family from Tiruchy and two of their relatives from Tiruppur were among the nine victims, who drowned after a cruise boat capsized in Bargi dam near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday The boat, operat. ed by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department, was carrying around 40 passengers when it reportedly lost balance in a sudden storm and sunk. The deceased have been identified as R Kamaraj (38), his wife Karkuzhali (38) and their younger son Tamilventhan (4), all natives of Tiruchy, and Karkuzhali’s sister-in-law P Soubhagya (42) and her son P Mayuran (8) from Dharapuram Kamaraj, Karkuzhali and Tamilventhan in Tiruppur. According to police, Kamaraj, a native of Anna Nagar near Thiruverumbur, completed apprentice training in the Tiruchy Ordnance Factory and moved to Jabalpur Ordnance Factory a year ago. His elder son Puvitharan (10) was studying in Class 6 at a school in Jabalpur. Since summer vacation had started, Karkuzhali invited her parents Vadivel and Mariammal, sister-in-law Soubhagya, and her children Iniya and Mayuran to Jabalpur. On Thursday evening, Kamaraj and the others visited Bargi Dam and took a boat ride. Unexpectedly, the boat capsized, and Kamaraj, Karkuzhali, Tamilventhan, Soubhagya, and Mayuran drowned. Puvitharan and Iniya, who were wearing life jackets, were rescued. Sources in Tiruchy police said the bodies would be brought to Tiruchy after postmortem. The TN government is coordinating with authorities in Madhya Pradesh to facilitate the process, they added. Kamaraj’s friend Sujith said that the bodies were expected to be brought back on Saturday by air ambulance.  More on P8 The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday predicted comparatively cooler days and warmer nights in May in most parts of the country. However, some parts of India, including the foothills of the Himalayas, eastern coastal states, Gujarat and Maharashtra, could experience above normal heatwaves. A cyclonic circulation in the Southeast Bay of Bengal is also a possibility this month, which could enhance rainfall activity . Daytime temperatures will be relatively cooler than normal, as most parts of the country are expected to experience above normal pre-monsoon showers. There is also a higher possibility of the development of El Nino, which could lead to subdued monsoon conditions, impacting agriculture. According to IMD’s analysis, maximum temperatures are likely to be normal to below normal across many parts of the country, except in regions of the Southern Peninsula, Northeast and Northwest, where above-normal maximum temperatures are expected. Conversely, many other areas, except for certain parts of Northwest India and some regions in central and Southern Peninsular India, could experience above normal minimum night time temperatures. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of the IMD, explained that warmer nights are expected due to cloudy weather, which is associated with above normal rainfall predictions. “Above normal rainfall causes cloudy weather at night, which traps heat and makes the nights warmer,” Mohapatra said. Above-normal heatwave days are expected in some parts of Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, northern Uttar Pradesh, Northeast Bihar, coastal parts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra, the IMD said. p r i d e o f pl a c e Sikkim first paperless state judiciary in India S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi CHIEF Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Friday declared Sikkim as the first paperless state judiciary in the country, while inaugurating a Conclave on Technology and Judicial Education in Gangtok. Addressing the inaugural session of the two-day conclave, the CJI said the Indian legal landscape has moved away from the era of the paper trail, where vital records languished in physical storage, to a vibrant digital ecosystem. Digital re- AI can be used to identify patterns for judges CJI Surya Kant said AI systems can be deployed to identify patterns in sentencing and bail practices, to promote greater consistency and predictability. “The modern judge must also engage with the logic that underpins emerging technologies,” the CJI said form, he said, is not a matter of theory but a practical necessity , for sustaining the rule of law. “Beyond basic data collection, we have witnessed the advent of intelligent assistance within our chambers,” he said, mentioning translation tool SUVAS and SUPACE, an AI-driven tool de- signed to assist judges. These innovations act as force multipliers, he said, aiding in the swift translation of judgments and providing rapid research to the bench. “They relieve the judge of mechanical burden of routine inquiry the CJI said. ,” Justice Surya Kant also spoke about the role of Artificial Intelligence in improving efficiency in trial courts, including in managing cases, verifying assets and ensuring consistency in sentencing. He urged judicial academies to go beyond basic digital training and also teach judges and legal professionals about the ethical use of newer technologies. Chief Justice of the Sikkim High Court Justice A Muhammed Mustaque, Sri Lankan SC judge Mohammad Dhilip Nawaz and Seychelles Supreme Court CJ Rony James Govinden were present, among others.