DHARMAPURI l tuesday l july 16, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Trump set to be officially named GOP candidate for U.S. President The Republican National Convention to officially nominate Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate got underway in Milwaukee on Monday Comprehensive security cover in place Classified documents case dismissed Trump, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on Saturday, arrived in Milwaukee for the four-day event during which he will announce his running mate. Allaying concerns about the former president’s security, the Secret Service’s coordinator for the event said, the force is fully prepared and a comprehensive security cover is in place ■ ■ Trump told The New York Post that he had prepared an “extremely tough” speech against Biden for the event, but decided to tone it down to avoid fuelling political divisions in light of the shooting | P9 Meanwhile, a Florida judge appointed by Trump dismissed a criminal case against him on charges of mishandling top-secret documents 50,000 People expected to attend the republican national convention 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 cbi PROBE SC refuses to quash FIR against DKS S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi IN a major blow to Karnataka deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected his petition challenging the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s first information report (FIR) against him in the disproportionate assets case. The Congress leader had moved the court after the Karnataka High Court declined his plea to quash the CBI case. Rejecting Shivakumar’s petition, a bench of justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma said it agreed with the high court order. According to the CBI, Shivakumar amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2013 and 2018. He was a minister in the previous Congress government during this period. The agency filed the FIR in September 2020 after obtaining sanction from the then BJP-led gover nment. Shivakumar challenged it in the high court in 2021, but did not get a favourable order. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Shivakumar, argued that the sanction was later withdrawn. Rohatgi further said there can’t be a CBI FIR for the same transaction when the Income Tax department is already investigating the matter. The bench, however, did not agree. The origin of the case goes back to 2017 when the income tax department raided Shivakumar’s premises and reportedly recovered unaccounted money Following this, the En. forcement Directorate started its own probe and the CBI also sought sanction to file an FIR against him. Reacting to the Supreme Court’s verdict, Shivakumar said in Bengaluru that he has done no wrong but will abide by the court’s order. Price rise: TN may rejig PDS of tur dal, oil B A N B U S E LV A N @ Chennai Tamil Nadu government is considering a major overhaul of the distribution of tur dal and palmolein oil through the special PDS as the subsidy for the two products accounts for a massive `3,800 crore for 2024-25. Reliable sources told TNIE that the finance department advised the state government against continuing the supply at highly subsidised rates. These products are bought by 1.6 to 1.9 crore cardholders each month.. According to highly placed sources, the government is likely to adopt a combination of strate- senior official said the government’s subsidy for these two items has more than doubled from `1,800 crore spent in 2014-15. “When the scheme was launched in 2007, the procurement price of tur dal was `50 per kg and oil was `45 per litre, and these press clusive items were sold at `30 per kg and `25 per litre respectively. Since then, the procurement prices have increased manifold but the sale prices have remained the same,” he said. In January 2023, the TNCSC purchased dal at an average price of `100 to `105 per kg. This in- creased to `120-`125 from January 2024 due to a price rise in the open market. Last month, the TNCSC reportedly procured dal at `150 to `155 per kg due to higher market prices, incurring several crores of rupees in additional expenses. Similarly the average procure, ment price of edible oil increased from `80 in February last year to `90 in March this year. Consequently, the subsidy (difference between the procurement price and the sale price) provided by the government for tur dal has increased from `20 per kg in 2007 to `120 per kg in June 2024. Continued on page 5 SC junks review plea against its order on Adani Chandrachud-led bench rules there is no error apparent in its January 3 judgment S uchitra K alyan M ohanty @ New Delhi Continental Supremacy Alvaro Morata (above) with the Henri Delaunay Trophy after Spain purred their way to a 2-1 win over England. The best team in the tournament, went seven in seven en route to winning their fourth Euros. Lionel Messi holds aloft the Copa America title after an edgy 1-0 win over Colombia in extra-time. It was a record 16th Copa title for the world champions | AP | P11 TN to convene all-party meet on Cauvery issue EXP R E S S N EW S S E R V I C E @ Chennai Strongly condemning the Karnataka government’s stance on releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister MK Stalin, on Monday, announced that a meeting of all legislature parties will be held on Tuesday at the state secretariat to decide the next course of action. However, perhaps for the first time, the CM will not be participating in such a meeting. Instead, the meeting will be chaired by Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan. Legal experts too will be consulted on the next move, Stalin said in a statement. The CM noted that the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) and the Cauv e r y Wa t e r R e g u l a t i o n C o m m i t t e e ( C W RC ) we re formed, as per the directives of the Supreme Court, to implement the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the SC. However, as the Karnataka failed to release water as per these norms last year, TN farmers were put to great hardship and the state received the water only after approaching the apex court, he recalled. The CWRC, after considering gies, including the reduction of subsidies by increasing the sale prices, partial discontinuation of edible oil distribution and introduction of eligibility criteria. The special PDS was introduced by former Chief Minister M Kar unanidhi on April 14, 2007, with the aim of controlling the prices of essential commodities in the open market, and is fully funded by the state government. While officials from the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) and the Civil Supplies Commissionerate did not respond to TNIE’s request for comment, a the inflow into Karnataka dams during the southwest monsoon, has directed the upper riparian state to release 1 tmcft of water per day between July 12 and 31 to TN. “However, the Karnataka government’s refusal to release the ordered quantum of water is shocking and violative of the SC order. The state government has already written to the CWMA seeking immediate implementation of the committee’s order,” the CM said. As of Monday, the total storage level in the four dams of Karnataka stands at 75.586 tmcft and as per the meteorological department’s forecast, the rainfall during the southwest monsoon for Karnataka would be normal. The storage level at the Mettur Dam, on the other hand, stands at just 13.808 tmcft. “Against this backdrop, Karnataka’s refusal to release water as per the direction of the CWRC is nothing but a betrayal of the farmers in TN,” he added. P5 e x p r e s s r ea d 3 charred bodies found in locked house in Cuddalore Tangedco increases power tariff by 4.8% Cuddalore: The charred bodies of a woman, her son and her grandson were found in their locked house near Nellikuppam on Monday. Police got information of smoke coming out of the house and broke open the door to find the charred bodies with cut injuries | P4 Chennai: In a move that will impact consumers, the power tariff charged by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) has been increased by 4.83%, effective from July 1. This hike applies to both usage and fixed charges | P4 THE Supreme Court has rejected a petition seeking review of its January 3 verdict dismissing a plea for a probe by the CBI or an SIT into allegations of stock price manipulation by the Adani Group as suggested by a report put out by US-based Hindenburg Research. “Having perused the review petition, there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013. The review petition is, therefore, dismissed,” said a three-judge bench of comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The order was passed on May 8 and published on the apex court’s website on Monday . While dismissing the review plea, the apex court said that no case was made out by petitioner Anamika Jaiswal against its January 3 verdict. In that order, the SC had held that there was no valid ground to enter into the regulatory domain of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and direct Fresh material it to hand over its probe to an alterna- The review plea tive agency as sought by petitioners in argued that there a batch of pleas, which relied on the was new material to findings of the Hindenburg Research prove that the Adani report. “There was no material to show Group violated law Sebi was lackadaisical in taking steps by not maintaining or had a regulatory failure, warranting minimum public a probe by a SIT or CBI,” it said. shareholding of 25% According to the petitioner, there is within certain fresh material to show the Adani Group periods of time violated Rule 19A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, which says listed companies need to maintain minimum public shareholding of 25% within specified periods. This factor, which was not considered in the January 3 judgement, needs a thorough probe, the review plea said. The plea had said the markets regulator in its report had only updated the court about the status of the 24 investigations it undertook following the allegations, whether they were complete or incomplete, but did not disclose any findings or details of action taken. In its January judgment, the SC noted that Sebi completed investigation in 22 out of the 24 matters. It also noted that the regulator was conducting a “comprehensive investigation” into the allegations and its conduct “inspires confidence”. ASI files Bhojshala report; vindicated, says Hindu side A nuraag S ingh @ Bhopal The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Monday submitted to the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, its report on the 98-day scientific survey at the Bhojshala TempleKamal Maula Mosque in western MP’s Dhar town. “The detailed report comprising 2,000-plus pages in 10 volumes has been submitted to the HC, as directed by it on July 4. The next hearing is on July 22,” the ASI/Central government’s counsel Himanshu Joshi said. While Joshi refused to divulge the contents of the report, senior advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who represents the petitioner, Hindu Front for Justice (HFJ), claimed the survey’s outcome vindicated their stand. “The ASI’s report makes our case strong. We’ll proceed to the Supreme Court for vacation of the stay order dated April 1, 2024, seeking an early hearing,” Jain told this newspaper. Jain’s father Harishankar Jain had filed the writ petition in the matter in 2022. He said, “The ASI’s report has now established that there was a Hindu temple and Vedas, Shastras and Sanskrit education was imparted at the gurukul (university) there. More than 94 broken sculptures/idols of Hindu gods have been recovered from there during the ASI survey .” Despite repeated attempts, Mohd Abdul Samad, the head of the Maulana Kamaluddin Welfare Society, who represents the Muslim side in the matter, could not be contacted. ample proof: petitioner Enormous evidence has been found to establish that there was a grand Hindu temple and a gurukul and not a mosque, petitioner Harishankar Jain said E x p r e ss N e w s S Er v ic e @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider commencing hearings on challenges to the passage of important laws like the Aadhaar Act as money bills, allegedly to bypass the Rajya Sabha. A money bill can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha. Once Lok Sabha clears it with a simple majority Rajya Sabha , cannot amend or reject it. It can make recommendations, which may or may not be accepted by the Lower House. The NDA does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. It currently has 101 seats in the 245-member House where 123 seats are needed for majority . Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, told the bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that since the matter is already in the list of scheduled Constitution bench hearings, it should be created on a priority basis. To this, the CJI said, “I will take the call when I form the Constitution benches.” A seven-judge Constitution bench has already been formed to hear the matter, but it has not yet commenced hearings. The judges had assured the petitioners that the court would start its hearings soon. In the 2018 Aadhaar judgment, the top court upheld the validity of the passage of the law as a money bill. However, Justice Chandrachud, had penned a dissenting verdict that said designating the Aadhaar legislation as a money bill was a “fraud on the Constitution”. Later in the day the Congress , welcomed the court’s decision. Sterlite firing: HC orders DVAC probe into 21 officers R S I V A K U M A R @ Chennai A section of the structure suveyed by ASI | Express CJI agrees to take his call on hearing money bill case soon Stating that the police had opened fire on peaceful antiSterlite protesters in Thoothukudi because the people at the helm of affairs and an industrialist wanted to teach them a lesson, the Madras High Court on Monday ordered a Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) investigation into the assets of 21 officers, including one IAS and a few IPS officers. The strong remarks were made by Justices SS Sundar and N Senthilkumar while hearing a petition filed by Henry Tiphagne, executive director of People’s Watch, seeking or- ders to the NHRC to reopen its inquiry into the 2018 firing in which 13 people were killed. “The people at the helm of affairs were unable to tolerate the peaceful protest prolonging for about a 100 days against the individual. Their intention/ target is to teach a lesson to the people, who participated in the protest all those 100 days,” the court said. “All these incidents happened (because) one industrialist wanted them to happen; he wanted to teach a lesson to everyone. Therefore, he made it happen. That’s all. You people (government officials) acted only for him,” the court added. Continued on p5