NAGAPATTINAM  TUESDAY  NOVEMBER 03, 2026  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION BOMBAY HC RAPS IMRAN KHAN FOR TAKING PART IN ANTI-CEC PROTEST The court said an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holder cannot criticise the government as such persons are not on a par with Indian citizens DEMANDS ACTOR’S UNCONDITIONAL APOLOGY EXTENDS SUSPENSION OF LEAVE INDIA NOTICE A division bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna directed actor-director Imran Khan to furnish an unconditional apology for participating in protests demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Khan had approached the High Court challenging a notice that directed him to leave India by October 28 ■ ■ “If you want to protest, then go to the USA and participate in protests there, and you can even go and cast your vote, but protesting anything here won’t be tolerated,” the bench told Khan | P8 The HC extended operation of its earlier order suspending the Leave India Notice issued to Khan until he is given a chance to respond OCT 13 IS WHEN BJP LEADER KIRIT SOMAIYA FILED A COMPLAINT AGAINST KHAN 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 DIWALI LET-UP Green crackers allowed in NCR only on Nov 7, 8 Amid light rains on Monday, a huge peepal tree inside the TNEB office on Mount Road in Chennai got uprooted and fell, damaging several parked cars | P JAWAHAR Murasu heads to AP; TN braces for rain EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai CYCLONE Murasu, which intensified into a severe cyclonic storm over the west-central Bay of Bengal, is likely to cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Narsapur, south of Ongole, from Monday midnight to the early hours of EXPRESS READ SC bins ex-min’s plea in job scam New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed the plea of former minister and DMK leader K N Nehru challenging a Madras HC direction to register an FIR against him in the alleged cashfor-job scam in the MAWS department. Nehru had contended that the ED’s information was not verified and cannot form the basis of an FIR | P5 Dad kills youth for friendship with girl Perambalur: A 21-year-old MCA student was allegedly beaten with an iron rod and stabbed to death by the father of a 12-year-old girl in Perambalur on Sunday over his alleged friendship with the girl. The 45-yearold suspect and his wife were later arrested for murder. The youth worked part-time as a driver for the man, police said | P2 960 Tasmac staff get notice for stir Coimbatore: More than 960 employees of Tasmac have been issued show-cause notices for protesting against the collection of `10 as environmental cess by shutting liquor outlets, while four have been suspended for allegedly preventing the opening of shops, Minister for Prohibition and Excise K Vignesh has said | P4 Tuesday The cyclone may bring . heavy rainfall to Tamil Nadu, particularly Chennai and its neighbouring districts. The system is expected to make landfall as a severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph. After landfall, it is likely to continue moving west-northwestwards, weakening into a cyclonic storm by Tuesday morning, a deep depression by Tuesday night, and a depression by Wednesday . The storm is expected to spare Tamil Nadu from a direct landfall but its influence will bring widespread rainfall, particularly over northern districts. Chennai and Tiruvallur have been receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall over the last two days. On Tuesday, moderate rainfall is likely over north Tamil Nadu, while the Nilgiris may receive heavy rain. The rainfall activity is expected to shift towards southern districts later in the week. Heavy rain warnings have been issued for Theni and P5 Dindigul on November 5. ‘Nobody will trust you’: SC rejects govt plea against Vedanta arbitration awards 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 Monday dismissed the Centre’s appeal against the enforcement of two foreign arbitral awards in favour of mining major Vedanta and Ravva Oil (Singapore), questioning the government’s resistance to the payouts and war ning that prolonged litigation will undermine global trust in India’s arbitration framework. “Nobody will trust you,” a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and Manmohan said while rejecting the Centre’s appeal against the Delhi High Court’s July 1 order allowing the enforcement of the 2004 and 2016 Kuala Lumpur awards involv- ing claims of $99 million. Criticising the government’s stance, the bench asked: “What are these arguments? You are frustrating an arbitral award... at the stage of enforcement?” The bench said it found no error in the HC ruling, which had rejected the Centre’s objections to the awards. The dispute traces its origins to a 1994 production-sharing contract between the Union government and a consortium comprising ONGC, Videocon Petroleum, Ravva Oil and Cairn Energy, whose interest passed to the erstwhile Cairn India (which later merged with Vedanta) for the development of Ravva oilfield in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Following disagreement between the government and the companies over the interpretation of the contract in calculating the Centre’s share of profit, the matter was referred to arbitration in Kuala Lumpur. The bench asked why the matter continued for so long when the first award was in 2004 and final award in 2016. Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee appeared for the Centre while Mukul Rohatgi and Akhil Sibal represented Vedanta and others. SC warns police officials of contempt action if its orders are not complied with S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi HOLDING that a complete ban on firecrackers is not only facilitating illegal sale but also preventing people from purchasing legitimate green crackers, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed bursting of green firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) from 6 am to 7 am and from 8 to 10 pm on November 7 and 8. Diwali falls on November 8 this year. A bench of justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale said the complete ban on firecrackers across Delhi-NCR will come back into force from November 9. “No firecrackers shall be burst within a 300-metre radius of hospitals, nursing homes, primary and district health centres, old-age homes and notified silence zones. These areas, along with educational institutions, will be declared No-Cracker Zones and appropriately marked and publicised,” the court said. The bench clarified that only green fireThis court is short crackers certified by NEERI and PESO of adequate data to decide whether will be allowed in Delhi-NCR on the peror not a complete mitted days and time slot. Observing that ban would be the bursting firecrackers would certainly best solution to cause pollution, the bench said the right solve the problem of an individual to engage in a particular of pollution caused practice, which may have a religious colby firecrackers our, is only a qualified one and cannot go Supreme Court beyond the constitutional restrictions. “Though imposition of a blanket ban seems to be the ideal solution, we are of the opinion that this court, at this point in time, is short of adequate data to decide whether or not a complete ban would be the best solution to solve the problem of environmental pollution, caused by bursting firecrackers,” the bench said in its October 29 order which was published on Monday . On the safety aspect, the court said boxes containing green crackers must be completely sealed to ensure that they are not mixed with any unauthorised or conventional firecrackers, and that there shall be no manufacture or sale of firecrackers joined in series (‘ladis’) and garlands. The court directed the Delhi Police, Uttar Pradesh Police, Haryana Police and district administrations in NCR to ensure strict compliance. It warned officials of contempt action if its directions are not complied with. Seven goods wagons roll 6 km without Panel formed under former DGP to review jail security engine before derailing at Jolarpettai AFTER THENI ESCAPE R A J A L A K S H M I S A M PAT H @ Chennai CHIEF Minister C Joseph Vijay has constituted a high-level committee headed by retired DGP J K Tripathi to review security arrangements in prisons across Tamil Nadu and recommend measures to prevent escape of prisoners. Tripathi had served as ADGP (Prisons) before assuming charge as DGP from 2019 to 2021. The move follows the escape of 17 prisoners in Theni last week. The panel will also comprise Additional DGP (Prisons and Cor rectional Services) K Shankar and retired deputy inspector general of prisons S Rajendran. The committee will assess existing security infrastructure, review standard operating procedures (SOPs), identify technological gaps, and examine whether prisons have adequate security personnel, taking into account their workload. It will also study best practices adopted in prisons elsewhere in India and abroad. The CM has instructed the department to strengthen prison security on a war footing and war ned of stringent action against officials found negligent. Speaking to TNIE, ADGP K Shankar said the department had not received any specific deadline for submitting the P5 report. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Tirupattur SEVEN wagons of a goods train that detached from the rake at Jolarpettai in Tirupattur district on Sunday evening travelled nearly 6 km along the Jolarpettai-Bengaluru section before derailing at a set of track switch points on the outskirts of Jolarpettai. The incident occurred while the rake was being shunted from the loop line to the main line at the Jolarpettai goods yard. Seven express trains bound for Chennai and Salem from Bengaluru were briefly delayed due to the incident. The wagons began rolling following the push from a locomotive at the opposite end and was aided by the gradient of A wheel of the derailed goods wagon near Jolarpettai the track. However, railway officials disputed the claim that the wagons travelled nearly 6 km without a locomotive, maintaining that they moved only 300 to 400 metres before derailing. No major untoward incident occurred as the wagons were moving from the track meant for operation of trains from Jolarpettai towards Bengaluru, which doesn’t see much traffic at that hour. On Monday , southern railway general manager U Subba Rao inspected the site and ordered an inquiry . According to sources, the incident occurred around 7.15 pm on Sunday, when the seven coaches, part of a 29-wagon rake, got detached when the train was being pushed by a locomotive from the opposite end, due to improper coupling between the seventh and eighth wagons. Following the impact and aided by the gradient on the Jolarpettai-Bengaluru section, the detached wagons began rolling along the track without a locomotive before derailing at Thamalerimuthur, P5 about 6 km away . File photo IRAN’S OFFER TO REOPEN STRAIT, U.S. TALKS Iran moots two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks with the US, shortening a process originally expected to take seven days | P9 Pilot rule: Char Dham chopper ops suspended S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi THE ongoing face-off between chartered flight operators in Uttarakhand and the aviation regulator over the co-pilot rule resulted in cancellation of all 40 Char Dham trips scheduled for Monday upsetting the travel , plans of 250 pilgrims. With no breakthrough emerging in the talks between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the private operators on the new rule of two pilots per aircraft, the operators have decided to cancel chopper services for the rest of the season, which ends on November 7. A reputed operator, speaking on behalf of the 13 operators who run these trips, told TNIE: “The DGCA held a virtual meet with all of us on Monday We . reiterated what we had communicated to them earlier that it was not possible logistically or financially to operate every helicopter with two pilots. We made it clear that the operators should have been involved in taking any such decision.” He added that a collective decision has been taken by all operators to suspend all Char Dham trips. An average of 40 trips are operated per day with six passengers accommodated per aircraft. “We will be cancelling all the trips and reimbursing all the fare to the passengers though we will incur huge losses,” the operator said. The aerial pilgrim trip begins at Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun and covers Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. It begins annually either by the last week of April or the first week of May and continues till June 25. After shutting down during the rainy season, it restarts by mid-September and continues till the first week of November. INDIA’S FIRST FULL SOLAR VILLAGE 141 homes, 282 kW, zero rupees in electricity bill E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur FOR as long as anyone in Khaira can remember, the monthly power bill sat on the kitchen shelf next to rice, medicines and grocery, competing for the same few rupees. This year, that bill lost its place. The tiny village in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district is now India’s first to cover every household with rooftop solar under the ‘PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’, officials said. All 141 homes now carry a 2 kW solar rooftop system, adding up to nearly 282 kW of clean energy capacity for its 889 residents. The villagers paid nothing. Central and state subsidies met the base cost, and corporate social responsibility funds covered the rest, ensuring zero out-of-pocket expenditure for the residents. “Khaira’s families have tran- How Khaira flipped the electricity playbook Khaira’s solar leap was not won through top-down mandates, but community trust. The breakthrough was driven by local mobilisers — known as PM Surya Sakhis — including local champion Sangeeta Sahu, working in tandem with self-help groups sitioned from passive, grid-dependent consumers into selfreliant urjadatas (energ y producers) who feed their surplus power back into the utility grid. The shift represents not just lower utility metres, but an empowering psychological pivot where clean technology is no longer an urban luxury but an , integral part of everyday rural domestic life,” Jitendra Yadav, Rajnandgaon collector told this newspaper. Sarpanch Bhupendra Yadav said rooftop solar has mostly reached city dwellers who can handle paperwork. Khaira, he said, put the most vulnerable households first. Of 141 homes, 93 are PMAY-G houses that got solar from day one. For those on fixed incomes, the change is personal. “I live alone and depend only on my pension. Now I don’t have to worry about electricity bill,” said widow Shohgil Gond. Chhattisgarh hamlet Khaira is India’s first 100% solar village | EXPRESS