Strike from today; govt promises Pongal buses Chennai: Amid the announcement of an indefinite strike by trade unions starting Tuesday, the transport department on Monday announced that it would operate 19,484 buses from January 12 to 14 for the upcoming Pongal festival. With train tickets sold out and omni bus fares soaring, uncertainty hangs over travel plans of lakhs of commuters | P2 chennai l tuesday l january 09, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION Photo: D Sampath Kumar 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 Sony losing ZEEL for merger over leadership e x pre s s ne w s s er v i c e @ New Delhi Says Gujarat govt usurped powers of Maha counterpart; lashes out at convict for fraud S u c hitra K a lyan M o hant y @ New Delhi Bilkis Bano Suppression of facts Convict Shah did not tell SC’s Rastogi bench that he had approached the Maharashtra government for remission CBI had given a negative recommendation Special judge of CBI too gave negative recommendation SP, Dahod, Gujarat had given a negative recommendation The District Magistrate, Dahod, Gujarat had given a negative recommendation The Supreme Court on Monday restored justice to the horrific gang-rape victim Bilkis Bano — seven of whose relatives were also murdered in the post-Godhra riots — by quashing the Gujarat government’s remission of sentence to 11 life convicts in the case. “The state of Gujarat acted in tandem and was complicit with the convict,” the court said in its verdict and directed all 11 convicts to surrender within two weeks. The judgment was authored by Justice B V Nagarathna on her behalf and also for Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. The court held that the Gujarat government was not competent to pass the remission orders. The court said only the government of the state where the offender was sentenced is competent to consider an application for remission. It faulted convict Radheyshyam Shah for abusing the process of law while seeking remission. Shah had initially approached the Gujarat High Court in 2019 for remission. The HC observed that he should approach the Maharashtra government instead. His second such application before the Gujarat HC was also dismissed in 2020. Shah approached the Maharashtra government with a similar request. Besides, the CBI and the Special Judge (CBI), Mumbai had given a negative recommendations in his case. The convict then moved the SC without disclosing the CBI opinion and his approaching the Maharashtra government. A bench had on May 13, 2022 directed the Gujarat government to consider the plea for Shah’s for premature release, holding that the government of the state where the offence had taken place has the jurisdiction to decide the application. Nullifying the order, the court said it was obtained fraudulently . Seat-sharing talks with AAP positive, says Cong P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE first formal seat-sharing talks among INDIA bloc parties kicked off on a positive note on Monday with the Congress and AAP deciding to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together in Delhi and Punjab. Both parties termed the first round of talks ‘positive and fruitful’, and said they will meet again to finalise the pact. Sources said Monday’s meet was focused more on the nitty-gritties of the alliance in various states and the seat-sharing formula is likely to be decided in subsequent meetings. The meeting was attended by Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, and the party’s National Alliance Committee (NAC) members Mukul Wasnik and Ashok Gehlot. The AAP delegation included Delhi cabinet ministers Atishi Marlena and Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak. Briefing the media after the meeting, Wasnik said deliberations were held on seat-sharing as well as other aspects of the upcoming elections, and they will come up with the final formula soon. “We had a very good meeting. Senior AAP leaders were sent for discussions with us on behalf of Arvind Kejriwal. The NAC formed by the Congress president held discussions with AAP leaders and a final decision will be taken later,” said Wasnik. AAP leader Bhardwaj said: “We are absolutely positive that seats of INDIA bloc will be finalised soon”. express read Man kills daughter for marrying Dalit youth Thanjavur: Vattathikkottai police are on the lookout for a caste Hindu man, Perumal, who allegedly murdered his daughter, Iswarya (19), for marrying a Dalit youth, B Naveen (19), against the family’s wishes | P2 TN beats GIM target, inks pacts worth `7L cr `5.5 lakh crore during this year’s GIM but it is learnt that several big-ticket investments The Tamil Nadu government happened in the last minute, managed to land committed highlighting investor confiinvestments worth dence in the state’s `6.64 lakh crore in policies. GI the third edition of Speaking during the the Global Investors valedictory function in Meet (GIM). It has P O W E R I N G T N Chennai on Monday, signed over 600 memChief Minister M K oranda of underStalin said the proposed standing (MoUs) investments would genwith a potential of generating erate 14.54 lakh jobs directly . 26.90 lakh jobs. “There is no doubt that the The state’s target was to MoUs for these investments bring in investments worth will help TN realise its goal of C Shi v ak u mar / T M u r u g anan d am @ Chennai M SONY Pictures may pull out of its merger plans with Zee Group over the issue of who should lead the $10-billion merged entity . As per the original agreement, the current MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Puneet Goenka was to lead the merged entity Now Sony is re. thinking on his role after market regulator Sebi barred Goenka from becoming the managing director of the merged entity over allegations of fund diversion. According to reports, Sony may file a termination notice before 20 January the extend, ed deadline for completion of the merger, on the grounds that some of the conditions necessary for the merger have not been met. Zee and Sony did not respond for comment. Sony and Zee announced their merger in December 2021. Under their agreement, Sony would hold 50.86% stake, Zee promoters to hold 3.99% and other Zee shareholders 45.15% in the merged entity . The merger stuck over the issue of leadership of the merged entity . The Sony Group is opposed to Goenka being at the helm of the merged entity, while Zee Group has been insisting on him leading it as was agreed under the ter ms of the agreement. Justice restored for bilkis as SC nixes remission CM Stalin with Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra on Monday | P Ravikumar becoming a trillion-dollar economy very soon. Sectors that saw new investment include advanced electronics manufacturing, green energy , non-leather footwear, automobiles and e-vehicles, defence and aerospace, data centres, global capability centres,” the chief minister said. While the Industries Investment Promotion and Commerce Department attracted `3.79 lakh crore worth investments, the Energy Department inked pacts worth `1.35 lakh crore.  P4