THRISSUR l saturday l january 29, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION BCCI relents to pressure, to host ranji this season Board secretary Jay Shah confirms plans to start the Ranji Trophy as Covid numbers have started dropping in major cities Group stages in feb-mar, knockouts in june importance of hosting the event For the first time in its history, the Ranji Trophy will be held in two phases. The group stage, involving 38 teams and six groups, is likely to begin on February 13 and run till March 18 in six cities before the IPL break. The knockout stage is expected to be played in June after the BCCI works out the schedule and venues keeping the south-west monsoon in mind ■ ■ Domestic players have not played long format cricket since March 2020, though it is the feeder system that allows young talents to develop their red-ball skills. It is the most challenging format Besides, hundreds of players who don’t have IPL income, are dependent on Ranji Trophy for their livelihood | P11 38 teams compete for the ranji trophy 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 If parking fee allowed, malls will charge for lift: HC E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi THE Kerala High Court on Friday observed that the collection of parking fees from customers by shopping malls is prima facie illegal. And if that is permitted, the malls will also collect fees to provide lift services to customers, the court said. Justice P V Kunhikrishnan made the oral observation while considering the petitions filed by Bosco Louis and Pauly Vadakkan against the parking fee charged by the Lulu International Shopping Mall Pvt Ltd, Kochi. FACE-OFF I think collection of parking fee by malls is prima facie illegal. If it is permitted, malls will soon start collecting fee for the lift service they provide to customers — Justice P V Kunhikrishnan In an apartment complex, there is a requirement for parking space. What do they do with the parking space? That’s being sold to the occupants — Shopping Centres Association of India The counsel for Lulu submitted that Bosco Luis is not coming to the mall, so there is no issue regarding the payment of parking fee. “Hence, he has no personal grievance,” the counsel said. But the court said the petitioner is taking up a public interest issue. The Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI), Mumbai, also filed a petition seeking to implead in the case, which the court allowed. The counsel for the association submitted that, after the High Court’s interim order, people coming to many malls in the country are refusing to pay parking fees. Citing the Building Rules, the High Court had earlier said that sufficient parking space is necessary to construct a building. “Parking space is part of the building. Prima facie, the owner cannot collect parking fees,” the court had said. Reiterating the point, the High Court said the collection of parking fees by malls is illegal. The counsel for the association submitted there is a requirement for parking space in an apartment complex too. “What do they do with the parking space? That’s being sold to the occupants,” he submitted. A decision will be made even in the case of apartments, the court said. “In my opinion, it’s serious and illegal. Parking space is necessary for a multi-storied building. Then what’s the purpose of Building Rules,” asked the court. The SCAI also argued that the parking space provided inside a mall is the private property of each mall operator and no rule could be made forcing the owners to provide free parking services. “There is a tendency among customers of not paying parking charges after availing parking facilities provided by malls,” the ● More on P4 association said.  No SC yardstick Bad bank ready to buy `50K cr NPAs in first phase set on promotion quota for SC/STs E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mumbai ever, the order left it to the states to assess the inadequacy The Supreme Court on Friday of representation of SC/ST to refused to lay down the yard- promotional posts taking into stick for determining the inad- account relevant factors. equacy of representation for The bench also said that a regranting reservation in promo- view should be conducted retions for Scheduled Caste/ garding the data for the purScheduled Tribe candidates in pose of determining inadequacy government jobs while reitof representation and proerating the need for emviding reservation in propirical data to arrive at motion, but left it to the the decision. government to decide However, the data the time period for so collected must not such a review. be for a group in a The petitioners had service but for a cadre sought clarity on sevin which promotions eral issues, mainly on Cadre data have to be made, a how the adequacy of gathering three-judge bench representation is to be comprising justices L deter mined. During “Cadre, which Nageswara Rao, Santhe hearing, the Centre should be the jiv Khanna and B R had suggested diluting unit for Gavai said. A cadre is the criteria for quota in collection of part of a group. promotion by doing quantifiable “State is obligated away with the requiredata, would be to collect quantifiable ment of quantifiable meaningless if data as per the court’s data pertaining data to establish inadjudgment in M Nagaequacy of representato the raj (2006) and Jarnail representation of tion of SCs/STs. Singh (2018). CollecIt had told the bench SC/STs is with tion of data has to be reference to the that even after 75 years for each category of of Independence, SCs/ entire service,” posts for the entire STs have not been the bench said service,” the court brought to the same ruled. The verdict came on a level of merit as the forward batch of petitions that urged classes. “If you don’t lay down the court to clarify norms for a definite decisive ground that reservation in promotions. the states and union will follow, The judgment primarily laid there’ll be a multitude of litigadown the principle for provid- tions,” Attorney General K K ing quota in promotion. How- Venugopal had said. K a n u S a r d a @ New Delhi CM to be back only on Feb 9, may visit Dubai E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram CHIEF Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is on a two-week trip to the US for treatment at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and was scheduled to be back on Saturday, may return only on February 9. On his way back, the CM will take a detour and get down in Dubai to visit the ongoing Expo there and meet entrepreneurs. The CMO’s request to visit Dubai after the US trip was turned down initially by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) citing diplomatic immunity reasons. A revised schedule has been submitted for approval. “It is not clear whether the MEA has issued its final clearance yet. If the chief minister gets the nod, he may stay back till February 9,” a ● More on P4 source said.  Nearly a year after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced it in 2021 Budget, India’s first bad bank is set to go live. All regulatory approvals have been secured to set up the National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) and India Debt Resolution Company (IDRCL), State Bank of India (SBI) chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said on Friday . SBI is one of the stakeholders in the bad bank. Jab-o-meter Take your shot Jan 27 49,69,805 doses Jan 28 48,98,149 doses Total doses 1,64,96,32,220 NATIONWIDE Jan 27 Jan 28 Fresh cases 2,86,384 2,51,209 Recoveries 3,06,357 3,47,443 Deaths 573 627 statewide Jan 27 Jan 28 Fresh cases 51,739 54,537 Recoveries 42,653 30,225 Deaths 11 13 Downward trend in state’s cases The weekly infection rate in the state has declined sharply and the number of Covid cases are expected to come down. P2 EXPRESS READ CPM suspends ex-MLA Rajendran for one year CU-professorship row: Guv seeks explanation Idukki: The CPM on Friday suspended senior leader and former Devikulam MLA S Rajendran from the party for one year. The move comes in the wake of an inquiry commission’s findings that he tried to ditch incumbent MLA A Raja in the assembly elections. P4 T’Puram: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, in his capacity as chancellor of universities, has sought an explanation from the vice-chancellor of Calicut University on its decision to grant professorship to retired teachers, in violation of UGC regulations. P5 Why are you apprehensive of handing over phones to CB, HC asks Dileep Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday sought to know why actor Dileep — accused of allegedly conspiring to murder officers investigating the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case — was apprehensive of handing over mobile phones to the investigation team. The court noted that Dileep and the other accused have stated before the crime branch that they handed over the mobile phones to their lawyer. “That, according to me, is not proper,” said Justice P Gopinath. P4 FOOD FOR THOUGHT? Guruvayur temple tender sparks caste row E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Guruvayur SEEKING to put an end to the controversy that the Left government in the state is promoting caste discrimination, Devaswom Minister K Radhakrishnan has ordered cancellation of a tender notice that stipulated Brahmins alone could take part in the making of the ‘prasadam’ at the Guruvayur temple. The Guruvayur Devaswom had invited tenders for preparation and distribution of prasadam to devotees during tem- ple festival scheduled to be held from February 14 to 23. A share of the offerings is distributed to the devotees, which is known as ‘Deshapakarcha’. However, the Devaswom Board has called off the festivities in view of the surge in Covid cases, and has limited the celebrations to rituals. As per the original plan, distribution of the offerings was to start at 7am on February 15 and ‘Prasada Ootu’ to be held from 9am. The Devaswom had decided to organise special temple feast on February 21, the eighth day of the festival. The Devaswom had issued a tender notice on January 17 inviting quotation for preparation of ‘pakarcha’ and ● More on P4 feast.  In view of the Covid situation, there are restrictions on festivities and it is not possible to conduct the festival in a grand way. So we decided to limit festivities to rituals and the decision to distribute Pakarcha and Prasada Ootu stands cancelled K P Vinayan, temple administrator The bad bank has two legs – NARCL to identify, aggregate and acquire stressed assets from lenders, and IDRCL to handle the debt-resolution. A total of 38 non-performing accounts worth `82,845 crore have been identified for transfer to NARCL, said Khara. In the first phase, 15 accounts of `50,000 crore will be transferred to NARCL before March 31. NARCL will, in turn, transfer these to IDRCL, which will scout for domestic or international buyers in an attempt to resolve bad loans. Anantha Nageswaran appointed new CEA The Centre on Friday appointed Dr V Anantha Nageswaran as the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA). Nageswaran, an academic and former executive with Credit Suisse Group AG and Julius Baer Group, succeeds K V Subramanian, who demitted office in December 2021 | P10 NARCL will try to acquire assets on a 15:85 cash and security receipts (SRs) ratio. It means the lenders will receive 15% upfront cash payment and the remaining in the form of SRs guaranteed by the Government of India for their face value. The guarantee is for `30,600 crore. If the bad bank can’t sell the loan or sells them for a loss, the SRs (valid for five years from the date of issue) will be used to make good the difference between what the lender was supposed to receive and what NARCL was able to raise.