tadepalligudem l saturday l december 3, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION The KnockOut punch Japan and Morocco played beyond expectations. Germany and Belgium exit. After an exciting group stages, the knock-outs begin from Saturday. A look at who plays whom in the Round of 16 and potential clashes Top half December 3 8.30 PM Netherlands vs USA 12.30 AM (Sun) Argentina vs Australia December 5 8.30 PM Japan vs Croatia 12.30 AM (Tue) To Be Decided ( Brazil) vs South Korea Bottom half December 4 8.30 PM France vs Poland 12.30 AM (Mon) England vs Senegal December 6 8.30pm Morocco vs Spain 12.30 AM (Wed) Portugal vs To Be Decided ( Swizterland) Three As it stands  Brazil Swizerland Group G matches don’t finish before late night South Korea’s Hwang Hee-chan celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Portugal on Friday. South Korea move into R-16 with 2-1 victory | AP | P11 Three Asian teams — South Korea, Japan and Australia — have qualified for the round of 16 stage this time 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 C’garh House OKs bill to raise tribal quota to 32% ed conducts searches at nri and Akkineni hospitals E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Total reservation now at 76%; 4% for EWS added feature of the new amendment law E J A Z K AIS E R @ Raipur ernment should have presented the data that formed the basis A special session of the Chhat- of the reservation,” he said. tisgarh Assembly on Friday The opposition also demanded unanimously passed an reser- to raise the SC quota to 16%. vation amendment bill that Last month, Governor Anutook the total quota in the state suiya Uike had written to to a whopping 76% with the Baghel assuring him of her tribal component at 32%. support on the contentious isCalled the Chhattisgarh Pub- sue of tribal quota. In 2012, the lic Service (Scheduled Castes, BJP regime led by then chief Scheduled Tribes and Other minister Raman Singh had Backward Classes Reservation) raised the quotas to 58% for Amendment bill, it educational instituwas passed after ex- Minor flutter tions and government tensive deliberations. jobs in the state. But in A comment by The amendment bill September this year, minister raised the ST quota to the Chhattisgarh High Shivkumar 32% and ST to 13% and Court struck it down that for OBCs to 27%. Dahariya led to a as unconstitutional. The new element was faceoff with BJP Consequently, the MLA Ajay the 4% reservation to reservation for tribals t h e E c o n o m i c a l l y Chandrakar, who came down from 32% Weaker Section (EWS) questioned how to 20% while that for the Assembly in educational instituSCs went up from 13% could enact an tions and the state govto 16% while OBCs got law related to ernment jobs. 14%. With Assembly “The bill will be reservation when elections due next soon sent to the Gover- a similar issue is year, the politics of nor Anusuiya Uike for sub-judice in the tribal reservation Supreme Court assent. In districts gathered steam, forcwhere the strength of ing the government to the EWS is higher, the proposed amend the law. quota for them may proportionThe law came on a day when ally rise up to 10% but at the the trail of the coal extortion state level it will be 4%,” in- probe roiling the state reached formed Chief Minister Bhu- Chief Minister Baghel’s office pesh Baghel. with the Enforcement DirectoLeader of the Opposition rate arresting a senior bureauNarayan Chandel questioned crat posted there. Soumya why the report of the Quantifi- Chaurasia, deputy secretary in able Data Ayog was not tabled the CMO, was remanded in ED in the Assembly “The state gov- custody for four days. . Security personnel deployed at Akkineni Women’s Hospital in Vijayawada | Express ‘Funds diverted during Covid’ The ED sleuths reportedly registered a case and served notices to the management of NRI Hospital ten days ago based on information that they had committed financial irregularities and diverted funds SC cross at sniping by ex-collegium members S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi A Supreme Court bench on Friday took a swipe at a few former collegium members who have been vocal in their criticism of the system, observing it has now become a fashion for them to do so after retirement. Justice M R Shah, who is currently part of the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said, “We don’t want to comment upon anything made by former members (of the collegium). Now it has become fashion to comment upon decisions made by earlier members.” The remarks were made by the bench while considering a plea by RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj, who sought the agenda, minutes and resolution of a Supreme Court collegium meeting on December 12, 2018, Justice Lokur expressed disappointment @ Tirupati @ Chandigarh / New Delhi The National Investigation Agency on Friday arrested Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia, the main conspirator behind the Ludhiana court bomb blast, shortly after landed at Delhi from Kuala Lumpur | P8 bers of the then collegium were justices Madan B Lokur, A K Sikri, S A Bobde and N V Ramana. The resolution of the next collegium meeting on January 10, 2019, recorded that the decisions taken on December 12, 2018, were revisited and overturned “in the light of additional materials”. Terming Bharadwaj’s plea as a “fishing inquiry by a busy body”, Justice Shah said, “Let the system which is functioning not be derailed. Let the colle gium perfor m its duty .” On advocate Prashant Bhushan’s submission that the SC was itself After retirement, Justice Lokur had in a media interview expressed his disappointment at the SC not uploading its December 2018 collegium resolution. But the Delhi High Court refused to consider it E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e HARPR E E T BA J WA & UJ WAL JALALI NIA arrests Ludhiana court blast accused under the RTI Act. The SC came under the RTI Act in late 2019. According to the autobiography of former CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice for the Judge, the collegium had agreed in its December 2018 meeting to recommend the names of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, who was then the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, and Justice Rajendra Menon, the then Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, for elevation to the Supreme Court but the decision was kept in abeyance since the news of their elevation had leaked. Apart from CJI Gogoi, the other mem- backfiring after declaring the Right to Information as a fundamental right, the bench rebutted it saying, “We’re the most transparent institution. We’re not backfiring.” In February 2019, Bharadwaj had filed an RTI request seeking a copy of the minutes of the resolution of the SC collegium’s December, 2018 meeting. While the Central Public Information Officer had dismissed the plea, the first appellate authority observed that the January 10, 2019 collegium resolution had made it clear that no resolution was formally passed in the December meeting since consultations could not be completed. She similarly hit a wall at the Central Information Commission and the Delhi high court before she brought it to the SC. The bench reserved its orders on the plea. Five months after death, police alter teen’s suicide case to murder Sidhu Moose Wala murder mastermind detained in US CANADA-based gangster Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar, the mastermind behind the brutal murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala in May this year, has been detained in California by US authorities. Confirming the news, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said Brar is currently under California police’s custody and he will be brought to India soon. According to sources, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been tracking Brar’s movem e n t s e ve r Sidhu Moose Wala since the Interpol issued a red corner notice against him at the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation. Brar, a native of Sri Muktsar Sahib in Punjab, had gone to Canada in 2017 on a student visa. Sources said he moved to the US a few months ago. Brar is a member of the dreaded Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Frid ay c o n d u c t e d s u r p r i s e searches at Akkineni Women’s Hospital in Vijayawada and NRI General Hospital in Mangalagiri, following allegations of illegal transactions during the Covid pandemic. Allegations of diverting hospital and medical college funds to its directors, favouring them undue advantages, are also being probed. Based on specific information that the management of NRI Hospital had committed financial irregularities, including collecting excess fees for management quota medical seats and diverting the funds to various persons, the ED sleuths reportedly registered a case and served notices to the management ten days ago. They also sought information pertaining to the charges. As many as five teams of ED, along with Central forces, arrived at the two hospitals and took control. They seized mobile phones of the management and imposed strict restrictions in the premises of both the hospitals. The searches lasted for over hand in hand Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Chief Justice of India Justice D Y Chandrachud at the 8th Dr LM Singhvi Memorial Lecture on ‘Universal Adult Franchise: Translating India’s Political Transformation Into A Social Transformation’, in New Delhi on Friday | Parveen Negi UP court orders arrest of ex-minister Chinmayanand added that the MP/MLA court does not have the power to exTHE MP/MLA court of Shahja- tend a deadline fixed by the hanpur has directed the Uttar apex court. Pradesh police to arrest former The case dates back to 2011 Union minister Swami Chin- when one of the disciples of mayanand and produce him be- Chinmayanand lodged a rape fore the court in concase against him. Chinnection with an mayanand was the Un11-year-old rape case ion minister of state lodged against him by for home in the Vajpayone of his disciples. ee cabinet. Special judge Asma After the BJP came Sultana rejected the reto power in Uttar quest made by ChinPradesh, it started the mayanand’s lawyer to process for closing the allow his client time to case in 2018. However, Swami appear before court con- Chinmayanand the victim opposed the sidering his old age and closure proceedings. ill health, citing a Supreme As a result, the court rejected Court order that directed him the application for closure and to appear in the Shahjahanpur issued a bailable warrant court by November 30. Howev- against the accused. er, he did not surrender before Earlier, Chinmayanand had the court by the deadline. moved the Allahabad High The judge posted the matter Court and also the Supreme on December 9 and directed the Court for withdrawal of the police to produce the accused case. However, both the courts in court on that day The judge rejected his plea. . Months after the death of a 19-year-old intermediate student in Chandragiri mandal of Tirupati district, police have decided to alter the case, registered as suicide, to murder. They will also probe the angle of honour killing as the woman was reportedly in love with a man from another caste. According to reports reaching here, after Mohana Krishna was found hanging at her home in Reddyvaripalle on July 7 this year, the police recorded a case of possible suicide, based on the complaint lodged by her father, Muni Raja. N AMITA BA J PAI @ Lucknow However, according to the post-mortem report, submitted a few days ago, Mohana was strangled to death. Police have learnt that the student was in love with one Vikas of Anjaneyapuram village for the past few years. As he belonged to a different caste, Mohana’s parents were against the relationship. They had even instructed Mohana to stay away from Vikas when she had told them that she wanted to marry him. Elaborating, sources from the police department said, “Following the autopsy report, case has been altered to murder and is being reinvestigated. Teams will be formed to expedite the probe. We have learnt that Muni Raja, was opposed to the relationship and had told his daughter more than once to stay away from Vikas. However, Mohana continued to see Vikas. The furious father then decided to kill Mohana and strangled her to death, before fabricating the scene as suicide.” It reportedly took nearly five months to complete the post-mortem by the concerned authorities. Meanwhile, the police have launched a manhunt to nab Mohana’s father, an accused in the case, who is currently at large. eight hours from 11 am to 9 pm. Officials reportedly seized incriminating documents and hard disk from the two hospitals. The teams are also conducting raids on the residences of the current and former directors of NRI Hospital. According to sources, it has been alleged that the directors and staff of NRI Hospital diverted huge amount of money collected from Covid patients by issuing fake and manual receipts for the sum received. In most cases, the money collected was not mentioned in the hospital records and is s u s p e c t e d t o h ave b e e n P4 diverted.  express read India beefs up troop deployment at LAC New Delhi: The shadow of the trust deficit between India and China has pushed for troop beefup across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), including the most peaceful Middle Sector. It has seen not just re-organisation of the troops, but also the beef-up of arms and commensurate infrastructure continues | P7 Ready to loosen Covid controls, Xi tells EU Beijing: President Xi Jinping suggested the spread of the less lethal Omicron strain might allow China to loosen its zero-Covid policy, senior EU officials reported on Friday. Discontent with China’s hardline pandemic response, widespread demonstrations, not seen in decades, spilled on the streets last weekend | P9 CM inaugurates tourism facilities in Kadapa Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy inaugurated tourism facilities and boating in Penchikala Basireddy Chitravathi Balancing Reservoir (CBR) at Pulivendula constituency in YSR district on Friday. Jagan went on a boat ride after inaugurating the boating facility constructed at a cost of `1.5 crore | P4 Amara Raja to set up research unit in T’gana Hyderabad: Amara Raja Batteries, on Friday, signed an MoU with the Telangana government to set up a research and manufacturing facility for lithium-ion battery at Divitipally of Mahbubnagar. The unit is expected to generate 4,500 jobs. Over the next 10 years, the firm intends to invest `9,500 crore in the facility | P5 happy faces Swings, slides at govt hosp help kids forget needles K K a lya n K r i s h n a K u m a r @ Vijayawada There is no kid who is not scared of hospitals. Often, mothers are heard scaring their children with injections, when they don’t listen to them. Even parents find it difficult to convince their children to go to a hospital for a checkup or treatment. To tackle the issue, the management of the Old Government General Hospital in Vijayawada have given a facelift to an unused piece of land to make the paediatric ward more kids-friendly . The management, along with Inner Wheel Club of Vijayawada Midtown 302, have devel- Children playing in the park set up at the Old GGH in Vijayawada | Prasant Madugula oped a park with play equipment, including a swing set and slide, for the children. The park has been set up at a cost of `7 lakh. With the support of club president Karambir Kaur, the members have established a play area that has a garden and a walking space. The play equipment in the park are made of plastic and not iron as they could get corroded and hurt the children. “My three-year-old daughter, Sugeeta, has been suffering with fever for the last one week. When we brought her here and she started playing in the park, it felt like she forgot that she was unwell. In the past, she used to be scared to go into a hospital,” S Satyavathi, a native of Penalumuru village, expressed and thanked the authorities and the club members for developing the park. The children’s park is named after Margarette Golding, a nurse and founder of the Inner Wheel Club in Manchester.  P4