Tapan Kumar Deka hyderabad l saturday l june 25, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION ex-ias officer parameswaran is the new ceo of niti aayog The former bureaucrat, who spearheaded the Swachh Bharat Mission, will replace incumbent Amitabh Kant Samant Goel Parameswaran Iyer Known for executing large projects Parameswaran Iyer, a 1981-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, had resigned from civil service in 2009. He came back as Secretary in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation in 2016 and executed the Narendra Modi government’s flagship sanitation scheme. He resigned from the post in July 2020 and went on to work with the World Bank in the US ■ 7 Deka ib chief, Raw’s Goel gets 1-yr extn ■ In another appointment, Tapan Kumar Deka, the ‘crisis man’ who was put in charge of the counter-assaults during the 26/11 Mumbai attack, was named Director, Intelligence Bureau Meanwhile, the tenure of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) head Samant Goel has been extended by one more year Number of officers Deka has superseded to become ib chief CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■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 SC upholds SIT’s clean chit to Modi Landmark abortion law in US overturned Sees no larger plot in the 2002 Gujarat riots E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @New Delhi The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) clean chit to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and 63 others in the 2002 post Godhra riots in the state and dismissed a petition by slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri’s wife Zakia Jafri. Bringing the curtains down on the bid to reopen the probe, a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar said the material collected during the investigation does not ‘give rise to strong or grave suspicion regarding hatching of larger criminal conspiracy at the highest level’ for causing mass violence against Muslims. The bench, also comprising justices Dinesh Maheshwari and C T Ravikumar, termed Zakia’s plea devoid of merit. It spoke of ‘the devious stratagem to keep the pot boiling, obviously, for ulterior design’ and said all those involved in ‘such abuse of process need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law’. The court also appreciated the SIT for its ‘indefatigable work’ in challenging circumstances and said it has come out with ‘flying colours unscathed’. The bench said no fault could be found with the SIT’s approach, adding its final report in 2012 is backed by firm logic, ‘expositing analytical mind and dealing with all aspects objectively for discarding the allegations regarding larger criminal conspiracy’. The bench upheld the decision of a magistrate in accepting the final report submitted by the SIT. Zakia Jafri had challenged the Gujarat High Court’s October 5, 2017 order rejecting her plea against the SIT decision. “We do not countenance the submission of the appellant regarding infraction of rule of law in the matter of investigation and the approach of the magistrate and the high court in dealing with the final report,” the bench said. Congress leader and former MP Ehsan Jafri was among the 68 people killed at Ahmedabad’s Gulbarg Society during violence on February 28, 2002. vandalised The ransacked office of Wayanad Congress member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi in Kalpetta on Friday, after a protest march of the SFI, the students wing of ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, turned violent | Express The US Supreme Court on Friday ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years in the Roe v Wade case. The verdict is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the US states. The ruling came more than a month after the leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the overturning P9 TEMPERS ran high even as confusion reigned supreme over the conduct of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) at Posset Bhavan of Aurora College in Abids, following a reported technical glitch on Friday . The JEE main was scheduled in two shifts, one from 9 am to 12 noon, and the second from 3 pm to 6 pm. Students, who reached the centre at 7.30 am for the forenoon exam were reportedly told to bring an extra photograph. “They asked us to get an extra photo,” Pavani, who waited to take the exam till 6:30 pm, said. “Students who had brought two photos got themselves registered. But the college staff held the exam for everyone for one hour.” Even as the students waited for the Cops ‘assault’ TRS leader at MLA’s behest E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad Railway Police on Friday questioned Avula Subba Rao, the ex-serviceman and director of a defence academy in connec, tion with the riot that erupted on June 17 at the Secunderabad Railway Station against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme. exam, the staff at the centre informed them that there were some server issues at the National Testing Agency (NTA)’s end. When the exam started at 11 am, about 26-40 questions did not appear on the screen. “As many as 23 of us, who did not appear for the first shift, were allowed inside the examination hall by 3 pm. We waited in the hall, but the exam was not held,” another student said.Students of second shift were allowed in the exam by 1:30 pm. But, none of them appeared for the exam. “We were just roaming the corridor, waiting for the exam to start. They did not inform us of the issue,” Vivas Reddy, another candidate, said. At 6 pm, the students were asked to go home. “There was no electricity no fans, , and no computers in the lab. They Rao later underwent a medical test at Gandhi Hospital before being produced at a court. A senior official said, “Arrests will be made official on Saturday, after a few more verifications. Once precise authentication like CCTV footage, mobile towers and hotel check-in receipts are collected, they will support the case as evidence.” did not even provide us drinking water,” another student said. The students later vented their anger by breaking a window pane. “There was no internet connection in the computer labs we were sitting in. They even called an electrician,” Pavani said. Parents waiting outside the centre asked the staff about the delay “The . principal expressed helplessness,” a parent said. The staff reportedly told the parents that the students could appear for the exam next time. Talking to reporters, the college principal said that the server was down the entire time. The NTA could not fix it during the exam hours. “The NTA have postponed the afternoon shift tentatively to June 30,” he added. “There is no information on the exams of the shift 1 students,” Pavani said. csr initiative Corporate houses to breathe new life into 25 lakes in city @ Karimnagar S B a c h a n J e e t S i n g h @ Hyderabad A probe has been ordered into the alleged police assault on TRS leader Thonti Pawan at the behest of local MLA Sunke Ravishankar. Rukmapur village TRS president Thonti Pawan on Friday alleged that the Choppadandi police brutally assaulted him for criticising local MLA Ravishankar. Pawan alleged that the police acted at the behest of the MLA after he had posted critical social media comments against Ravi and his followers. He alleged that the police picked him up on Thursday evening and hit indiscriminately on his face, legs and feet. “The SI asked me who was behind the posts and assaulted me. They said they would let me go only on the MLA’s instruction,” Pawan alleged. ommissioner V Satyanarayana later ordered a probe under Karimnagar rural circle inspector. Further action would be initiated based on the probe report. SEVERAL private players have joined a major drive to protect waterbodies besides developing and beautifying them as part of the firms’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.   The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has identified corporate houses which would develop and conserve 25 lakes in various parts of the city . The civic body has accepted the proposals of the cor porates for adopting and developing lakes in GHMC limits as proposed by the Town Planning section of the corporation. An MoU would be signed after receiving the approval of the GHMC Standing Committee, slated to meet next week. Incidentally, private players had restored a few highly-polluted lakes earlier. A few months ago, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K T Rama Rao directed officials to assign realtors to develop lakes S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Two days after vacating his official residence in the wake of a massive revolt, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray sought to take back control by addressing a meeting of the party’s functionaries, invoking Shivaji Maharaj’s spirit to urge the cadre to rebuild the party from scratch. In his emotional address, he also said he was ready to step down as the Shiv Sena president if need be. He said he may have moved out of the official residence of the chief minister, but his determination to fight the crisis was intact. Saying he was pained by the desertion of the MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, he pointed out thet he gave him the plum portfolio of urban development and sent Shinde’s son to Parliament. “Despite this, they blame me for promoting Aditya Thackeray Every father will do . that for his son,” he reasoned. Uddhav also chaired a meeting of districts collectors and secretaries and asked them continue with development works related to welfare of the people irrespective of the political twists and turns. He also Back to the roots Of the total 96 Shakha pramukhs of the Sena, 85 attended the meet at Shiv Sena Bhavan at Dadar. Aditya Thackeray addressed them in-person while Uddhav spoke virtually discussed the Covid situation and a possible mask mandate in Mumbai, given that the infection count is going up. In the evening NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar called on Uddhav at his residence. NCP state president Jayant Patil and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar accompanied Pawar for the meeting. As for Shinde, he sought legal advice after Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal approved the appointment of Ajay Chaudhari as the Sena’s legislative party leader replacing him (Shinde), and Sunil Prabhu as the chief whip. The Shinde camp had written to Zirwal seeking the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as chief whip instead of Prabhu. Rly police quiz ex-army man, arrest likely today Server glitch sparks chaos at JEE centre E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad Uddhav tries to wrest initiative, urges cadre to rebuild the Sena from scratch located within 500 metres of their planned layout or mega projects. The HMDA in January said that lake development in the city would be integrated with the layout and building permissions to fix accountability . The corporates have submitted their representation for the development and conservation of 25 lakes. The agencies provided detailed proposals for dewatering, desilting, clearing weeds and plants, bund strengthening and compacting, biological wetland treatment, inlet sewage diversion, floating wetland, plantation, and for installing aerators, hoardings, signages, benches and litter bins. Additionally, the firms expressed willingness to take up civic and beautification works for rejuvenating tanks. GHMC officials told TNIE that the proposals submitted would be beneficial since the initiative would go a long way in conserving the environment around the lakes. Developers resposible for lakes near sites MAUD Minister K T Rama Rao has instructed officials to assign realtors to develop lakes that are located within 500 metres of their planned layout or megaprojects Pvt players submit proposals The civic body has accepted the proposals of the corporates for adopting & developing lakes in GHMC limits as proposed by the Town Planning section As many as 60 people have been arrested for arson so far. It has been learnt that Rao, the director of ASR Sai Defence Academy with branches in both Telugu States, instigated stud e n t s t h ro u g h W h at s Ap p groups. It has been reported that Subba Rao, during interrogation, confessed that he had come to the city before the incident and initiated the stir. A source revealed that Rao reached the city with Malla Reddy Naresh, Shiva and Reddappa, , who managed other defence academies. Rao cooperated with the WhatsApp group admins and other students. He also provided food to those who were part of the arson.