TIRUPATI SUNDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2024 `12.00 PAGES 24 ANANTAPUR EDITION NEW YORK JUDGE FINES DONALD TRUMP, HIS ORGANISATION $355 MN A New York judge ordered former US president and his companies to cough up $355 mn in penalties for duping banks with inflated claims INTEREST OF $100 MN ADDED TO OVERALL BILL NEW YORK BANKS CANNOT LEND TO TRUMP Trump’s businesses run by his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr were ordered to pay $4 million each and a former CFO was asked to pay $1 million for inflating wealth on financial statements. Trump will have to pay interest from when he received benefits from his frauds, which could add another $100 million to his bills. His lawyers have said they will appeal ■ ■ Trump and his sons barred from holding directorship in any New York corporation. So, he will have to step down from his own companies, but can appoint anyone to lead them as he continues to be the owner Trump banned from taking loans from New York banks, which is seen as a major blow given that so many lenders are from the Big Apple $88.3 MN TRUMP HAS TO PAY IN A SEPARATE DEFAMATION & SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE 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 Live-in clause to be out of UCC draft Official of Law Commission says such relationships don’t fall within the code’s purview P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi IN a significant departure from the Uttarakhand model, the proposed central law on the Uniform Civil Code is unlikely to go into the question of live-in relationships as it doesn’t fall within the UCC’s purview, highly placed sources in the law ministry said. The Uttarakhand code proposed mandatory registration of live-in relationships and stringent punishment for violators, spurring public debate on privacy and personal liberty . Sources said senior members of the Law Commission are not in favour of bringing in live-in relationships under the ambit of the UCC bill. The 22nd Law Commission of India is tasked with drafting a nationwide UCC, a long-time poll promise of the BJP. Members of the commission believe that the Uttarakhand code legalised live-in relations through compulsory registration, which is counter-productive, said sources. “The institution of marriage is sacrosanct and live-in relationships cannot replace it. The UCC is about common family law for all religious communities on matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession. Co-habitation doesn’t come under the purview of the UCC. But the Uttarakhand UCC has given it a status of marriage now,” said the top official. The official pointed out that live-in relationships are currently referenced under the 2005 Domestic Violence Act, as domestic relationships. The law also has provisions for mainte- PRESS CLUSIVE National narrative The BJP plans to push a national UCC narrative in the general elections. Recently, Union minister Amit Shah said that a secular country cannot have religion-based civil codes. “The enforcement of the UCC in Uttarakhand is for social change,” he said nance now. “In the Uttarakhand UCC, a child born from such a registered live-in relationship will be treated as legitimate,” the official said. While some of the BJP-ruled states like Assam and Gujarat are already mulling their own UCC bills by using the Uttarakhand model, the official said it will give rise to constitutional complexities. “Though states can enact some personal laws, the central law prevails in some cases,” he said. The Uttarakhand code mandates that persons in live-ins inform the registrar within a month of the relationship, else they could face a jail term of up to three months, a fine of up to `10,000, or both. TTD team to help Ayodhya mandir in crowd management EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Tirumala Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoists BJP’s flag during the BJP National Council meeting in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI MODI DRILLS 370 INTO PARTY, GEARS IT UP FOR POLLS R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday sought to add sentimental value to the party’s target of winning 370 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “Winning 370 seats would be a tribute to party idealogue Dr Syama Prasad Mukharjee who made the ultimate sacrifice for the abrogation of Article 370 and preserving Bharat’s unity and integrity,” Modi said. He was addressing a gathering of his party’s national office-bearers prior to the commencement of their two-day national council meet here. The Modi government had read down Article 370 that gave special status to J&K, in August 2019. Modi urged the office-bearers to intensify the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign around its pro-poor work and the country’s development, informing the people as how his government removed Article 370, acted for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, brought the bills for ensuring reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections and did a lot of pro-people welfare works in the last 10 years. In a post on X later, Modi said, “Addressed the @BJP4India National Office Bearers. Complimented every Party Karyakarta for their exceptional efforts to serve people. Discussed ways to deepen our Party’s grassroots level connect across all sections of society Over the last decade, BJP has . made a mark as a party of development and good governance. Our schemes, initiatives and reforms have transformed several lives.” Kejri appears virtually in local court J A I S O N W I L S O N @ New Delhi DELHI Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday virtually appeared before a local court here on a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) accusing him of skipping its summons in the excise policy scam. Kejriwal told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra that he wanted to appear in person but the budget session of the Assembly that commenced on February 15 demanded his presence there. “I wanted to appear but all of a sudden the floor test came... Our budget session will go on till March first week. You may list the case after that, I will appear in person,” Kejriwal said. Since the ED did not oppose his application, the court posted the matter for hearing on March 16. On February 7, taking cognisance of the ED’s complaint, the court had sought Kejriwal’s personal appearance on February 17. “...prima facie offence under Section 174 of the IPC is made out and there are sufficient grounds for proceeding under Section 204 of the CrPC against Kejriwal,” the judge had said. TIRUMALA Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the custodian of the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala, will extend support to the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra in managing the devotee rush at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. On the request of the management, TTD executive officer AV Dhar ma Reddy, along with his assistant, arr ive d i n Ayo d hy a o n Saturday . Experts from the TTD engineering department in New Delhi will also join him. Soon after reaching Nath in Delhi amid buzz on joining BJP A N U R A A G S I N G H @ Bhopal FORMER Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and his first-time MP son Nakul Nath suddenly flew to New Delhi on Saturday, further fuelling speculation about the Congress veteran joining the BJP. However, senior Congress leaders, including Digvijaya Singh and State party chief Jitu Patwari, dubbed the speculation as baseless. Nath told journalists in Delhi, “You’ll be the first ones to know if anything like what you a r e s ay i n g ( j o i n i n g B J P ) happens.” Sources said rift between Nath and the party high command has widened since the party’s 2023 assembly poll defeat. Though Nath was in constant touch with Sonia Gandhi and expecting a Rajya Sabha ticket, the Congress chose state party treasurer and wealthy Yadav politician Ashok Singh. EXPRESS READ 10 lakh YSRC cadre likely to attend Siddham meeting in Rapthadu WITH THIS ISSUE THE NEW WORKER PLUS 12 PAGES Vijayawada: Stage is set for the YSRC’s ‘Siddham’ public meeting at Rapthadu in Anantapur district on Sunday. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will address a mammoth public gathering, where 10 lakh YSRC cadre and sympathisers from Rayalaseema region & Nellore are expected to be in attendance | P4 ADVENTURE TOURISM State’s first floating sea bridge to come up in Vizag EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Visakhapatnam IN a first in the State, a floating sea bridge is set to come up at RK Beach in Visakhapatnam. The bridge, which is expected to offer a new adventure tourism attraction along the coast, extends 100 feet into the sea. As many as 34 cement anchors and two iron anchors secure the floating structure, which has a capacity to accommodate up to 200 people simultaneously. Lifeguards will be stationed every 25 metres to ensure safety of visitors. Two lifeboats will also be stationed on either side of the bridge. Accompanied by Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) chief CM Saikanth Varma and officials of VMRDA, district Collector A Mallikarjuna inspected the P4 bridge on Saturday . A floating bridge project taken up in Vizag with `1 crore with inspiration from similar ones in Kerala | G SATYANARAYANA the temple town, Dharma Reddy and his team offered prayers to Ram Lalla. They will inspect the facilities at the temple in the days to come. The executive officer is also likely to prepare a detailed report on the e s t abl i s h m e n t o f queue lines, and their management at the Ram Mandir so that devotees can have a quick and comfortable darshan. Speaking to TNIE, TTD superintending engineer P Jagadeeswar Reddy said, “The TTD executive officer had received a call from the Prime Minister’s Office, requesting him to assist the Ayodhya temple trust to set up a better queue line management system in a bid to improve the existing infrastructure to manage the crowd effectively On the directions of . the TTD EO, I have arrived in Ayodhya and have been studying the system here.” Ayodhya has been witnessing a significant surge in pilgrims since the consecration P4 ceremony of Ram Lalla.
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