KOZHIKODE l wednesday l november 23, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Air India beats all others, becomes most punctual Indigo’s on-time performance slips The Tata group-owned airline clocked an impressive 90.8% on-time performance in October, the best among all carriers This is a notable achievement for Air India given that it was usually at the bottom of the chart when it was a run by the government. In October, Vistara and AirAsia India claimed the second spot with on-time performance score of 89.1% each, followed by IndiGo (87.5%). IndiGo was the most punctual airline in February (95.4%) and March (93.9%) ■ 1.14 crore Go First at bottom of the chart The monthly data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Tuesday also showed that SpiceJet’s punctuality rate stood at 68.9% in October, while Go FIRST ended up at the last spot with on-time performance tag at 60.7%. The data is based on punctuality at Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad & Mumbai Number of passengers flown by Indian carriers on domestic routes in October 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 Fall in line, high command tells Tharoor Tariq Anwar sides with Cong state leadership, Satheesan terms Thiruvananthapuram MP “media-inflated balloon” Preetha Nair & Cynthia Chandran @New Delhi/T’Puram As the face-off between Shashi Tharoor and V D Satheesan came into the open on Tuesday , the Congress high command made it clear that it stands with the state leadership of the party It also warned the Thiru. vananthapuram MP that it will intervene if the leadership in Kerala files a complaint against him for flouting the party line. “Nobody is above the party. Not only Tharoor, all party leaders must follow the norms set by the Pradesh Congress Tariq Anwar Panakkad Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal receiving Congress MP Shashi Tharoor at Panakkad on Tuesday Committee. KPCC chief and the Leader of Opposition have already issued statements. I support them,” Congress national general secretary in- V D Satheesan charge of Kerala Tariq Anwar told TNIE. Anwar said the high command has not received any complaint from the state leadership on Tharoor building a messi argentina lose way in arabian desert S i d d h a n t h A n e y @ Doha CRAZY things can happen in sport. A resolute, brave and technically sound Saudi Arabia put Asia on the board at the 2022 FIFA men’s World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday In . the process, they scripted one one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport. The thousands of Saudi fans who made the trip across the border would be lying if they said a final scoreline of 2-1 against Argentina was a result they expected anywhere other than in their wildest fantasies. Yet, that’s how it ended at a roaring Lusail Stadium that was draped in a sea of green. It was reminiscent of Argentina’s 0-1 loss to Cameroon in Italy 1990, where they were defending champions. A remarkably composed Herve Renard, Saudi coach, summed it up in the post-match press conference. “Argentina are a fantastic team with great players,” he said. “They were unbeaten in 36 games and the champions of South America. But this is football. Sometimes crazy things happen.” It could have gone very differently With the clock barely . at the double digit mark, Lionel Messi, in his last World What undid the albiceleste? Saudi Arabia’s energy and high-intensity caught Argentina unawares. The Saudi primary league has been shut since October third week, so players have been in sync with each other, training together and playing friendly matches for the last two months. That level of understanding showed in a display full of heart and effort from the first to the final whistle Saudi Arabia declared Wednesday as public holiday It's a very heavy blow, a defeat that hurts, but we must continue to have confidence in ourselves. This group is not going to give up. We will try to beat Mexico Lionel Messi Argentina captain Today’s matches Morocco vs Croatia 3.30 PM Germany vs Japan 6.30 PM Spain vs Costa Rica 9.30 PM Belgium vs Canada 12.30 AM on Thursday Dejected Lionel Messi walks off the pitch as Saudi Arabia celebrate after their stunning victory over Argentina at the World Cup in Doha on Tuesday | AP | P11 Cup, stepped up to the penalty spot and calmly stroked the ball home. From then on, it was hard work for the Saudis. Argentina dominated possession and had all the chances. In the next 20 min- Why no CEC gets 6-year term, asks SC S HR U TI K A K K AR @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the way Chief Election Commissioners (CEC) are appointed, noting that whichever party comes to power, CECs invariably get truncated tenures. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph made the observation while considering a petition seeking a collegium-like system for appointment of members of the Election Commission. Underlining various examples of CECs having very short tenures since 2007, Justice Joseph said the candidates’ date of birth is known to the government and yet, they pick those who wouldn’t last the full term of six years. According to the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election ‘Need CJI in Commissioners and Transaction of select panel’ Business) Act, 1991, a CEC will have a The Supreme Court tenure of six years but will have to vasaid “silence of the cate office when he or she attains the age of 65 years. Constitution” is Justice Joseph said short tenure afexploited by all parties, adding that fects the independence of the CEC. “This trend has continued... be it the UPA govthe absence of a ernment or this government,” he said. law governing the The judge further said that the court appointments of is very well aware of the government’s ECs and CECs is a reluctance to let go of the present struc“disturbing trend”. It said the presence ture. Referring to Article 324(2) of the Constitution under which the appointof the CJI in the select panel would ments to members of the Election Combe the best system mission of India are made by the President subject to law made by Parliament, the court asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to apprise the bench on whether any law has been implemented by the legislature for such appointments. The bench said, “The Constitution has cast an obligation on Parliament. If there is a room for making a law, can how long you can argue you will not? We are taking this up after 70 years.” utes, they found the back of the net thrice, first it was Messi who latched on to a lofted through ball and finished with characteristic composure. Continued on: Page 11  “parallel set-up” in the party. Asked whether a Tharoor faction is emerging in Congress, Anwar said he doesn’t want to get involved in the issue. “I can only say the PCC has the authority and will take appropriate decisions...If the PCC files any complaint against Tharoor, then we (the central leadership) will intervene,” he said. “I spoke to Satheesan and he assured me that everyone is on the same page with the leadership,” said Anwar. Meanwhile, Satheesan shed silence on the issue and accused Tharoor, albeit without mentioning his name, of attempting to weaken Congress in the state by pursuing divisive and parallel politics. In an apprent reference to media-savvy Tharoor, he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, “media-inflated balloons will burst with a prick. But we won’t as we are not balloons inflated by media.” Tharoor, on the third day of his Malabar tour, visited the Kodappanakkal House at Malappuram and met the top leaders of the key UDF partner IUML, including state president Panakkad Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal and national general secretary P K Kunha● More on P4 likutty  . Milma to hike milk price by `6/litre, awaits nod E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @T’Puram The Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF), or Milma, is set to increase the price of milk by Rs 6 per litre from December 1. The federation is awaiting the government’s approval to convene a governing body meet, likely on Friday to implement , the hike. Earlier, Dairy Development Minister J Chinchu Rani and Milma chairman K S Mani met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to discuss the hike. The government is yet to issue an order hiking the price of milk. A Milma-appointed committee had recommended a hike of `8.57 per litre, but the government was not keen on passing “a large burden on people”, said an officer. Mani said an appropriate hike in milk price is inevitable to support dairy farmers. Though a hike of `5 per litre was sought last year, the government did not approve it. Instead, dairy farmers are being given a subsidy since August. Mukesh passes RIL mantle to Anant, Dhanraj S h a h i d F a r i d i @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a young visitor at his 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence in the middle of October. The meeting signalled a big change at the top level of India’s largest private sector corporation — Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). The man who drove into the PM’s residence in a black Mercedes was Anant Ambani, the younger son of India’s second richest man Mukesh Ambani. Dhanraj Nathwani Anant Ambani Sources said RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani has handed over the job of handling matters relating to government, politics and legal affairs to Anant. He has been travelling to states to meet CMs. He is said to have developed a good rapport with several CMs, including prominent ones from BJP-ruled states. His one-and-half-hour meeting with the PM was focused on the impending change of guard at Maker Chamber in Mumbai, RIL’s headquarters, it is learnt. The 27-year-old Anant will handle the legacy business of oil, while his older siblings Akash and Isha will focus on the group’s new ventures — 25% cameras blind, police want law to make CCTVs mandatory for biz licence S h a n A S @T’Puram Commercial establishments in the state may soon have to install CCTV cameras on their premises if they want a business licence. The Kerala Police have submitted a proposal to the government, in a move that aims at enhancing surveillance and security cover across the state and aid them in investigations. In the proposal they filed before Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week, the police sought a legislation making it mandatory for commercial es- 1,791 out of 6,934 CCTV cameras defunct Failing vision Entity Total Defunct cameras Police dept 3,043 487 Other depts 1,542 376 Pvt/Commercial 2,011 700 tablishments to install CCTV cameras on their premises, with minimum storage capacity of 30 days, failing which they w i l l b e d e n i e d bu s i n e s s licences. For this, amendments should be made to the Kerala Municipalities Act and Panchayati Raj Act, read the proposal. The police made the proposal following their assessment that CCTV coverage in the state was not up to scratch. As per their data, there are 6,934 cameras in public places in the state. However, 1,791 of them, or 25.8%, are non-func● More on P4 tional.  digital, including telecom, and retail. Akash, along with sister Isha, will also look after marketing and brand building. Anant was inducted into the board of RIL’s clean energy companies last year. Sources said the Reliance group’s key troubleshooter and Rajya Sabha member, Parimal Nathwani, will also hand over the baton to his son, Dhanraj Nathwani, who will henceforth handle corporate affairs in the national capital. EXPRESS READ HC for raising staff retirement age Kochi: The Kerala HC has written to the government seeking to raise the retirement age of its staff from 56 to 58 saying the service of experienced hands could be useful while executing judicial reforms | P5 Six shot dead in border violence Guwahati: Five civilians and a forest guard were killed and several others injured in an incident of firing on the AssamMeghalaya border early morning on Tuesday | P8