vijayawada l saturday l september 21, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Thousands of Trucks stranded along J’khand-Bengal border Move in protest against Bengal flooding According to reports, the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal restricted the entry of heavy vehicles from the neighbouring state in protest against the continuous release of water from Maithon and Panchet dams operated by the Damodar Valley Corporation, a central government entity, which resulted in flooding of Paschim Bardhaman and Medinipur districts The vehicles are stuck along NH-2 and NH-4 at the inter-state border after the West Bengal government blocked trucks from Jharkhand Negotiations on to sort out the matter ■ ■ Due to heavy rainfall in Jharkhand, 58,451 acre-feet of water was released from Maithon Dam and 220,640 acre-feet from Panchet Dam “Senior officials and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren have been informed about it. Negotiations at the government level are underway,” Dhanbad deputy commissioner Madhvi Mishra told media persons | P8 DVC Says the West Bengal government was kept in the loop about water release 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 HC strikes down govt rules to set up fact checker Maha BJP will hit a century, says Fadnavis E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mumbai Says they are unconstitutional and can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mumbai Petitioners Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, Editors Guild of India, News Broadcast and Digital Association, and Association of Indian Magazines had filed petitions in the HC opposing the Centre’s move to set up Fact Checking Units Govt’s view The Centre told the Bombay High Court on July 24 that the right to know factually correct information and the right to not be misled were equally important as the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) tHE Bombay High Court on Friday struck down the amended Information Technology Rules, specifically Rule 3, which empowered the Central government to form fact checking units (FCUs) to deal with “fake, false, or misleading” content about the government on social media and online platforms. The ‘tiebreaker’ verdict was delivered by Justice A S Chandurkar. The amended rules violated several constitutional provisions, including Article 14 (right to equality), Article 19 (freedom of speech and expression), and Article 19(1)(g) (freedom to practice any profession), Justice A S Chandurkar held. Rule 3(1)(b)(5)—the provision dealing with the establishment of FCUs—was ultra vires to the Constitution, he judge added. Terming the amended provision ‘vague and overbroad’, the judge held that it could have a ‘chilling effect’ not only on individuals but also social media intermediaries and platforms. Justice Chandurkar held that the expressions ‘fake, false or misleading’ are vague and that the test of proportionality is not satisfied. “Impugned Rule as amended be struck down. All the petitions will be placed before the division bench to be decided,” the judge held. Justice Chandurkar’s opinion will now be placed before a division bench, which will formally announce the 2:1 majority against the impugned rules. The case was referred to Justice Chandurkar following a split verdict in the matter by a bench of Justices G S Patel and Neela Gokhale in January this year. While Justice Patel struck down Rule 3 citing concerns about the potential for censorship of user content, Justice Gokhale took the view that the amended rules did not impact free speech significantly . The division bench also differed on whether a stay should be granted to the setting up of the FCU pending the hearing by a third judge. Justice Patel said the FCU should not be notified until the matter was heard by a third judge, while Justice Gokhale said it could be notified. Following this, High Court Chief Justice D K Upadhyay appointed Justice Chandurkar to provide a tie-breaking opinion on the case. Tirumala Laddu row snowballs Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday expressed confidence in the BJP winning 100 seats on its own in the forthcoming assembly elections in November. He attributed his confidence to the slew of development projects his gover nment initiated across the state. Fadnavis was speaking at the first edition of The New Indian Express’ Mumbai Dialogues — a platform for exchange of ideas on politics, economy and other social issues — in Mumbai. However, Opposition leaders did not share Fadnavis’ optimism. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray From left: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray participating in the first edition of The New Indian Express’ Mumbai Dialogues shared his concer n over Maharashtra losing several development and job-generating projects to Gujarat during the cur rent regime. The event was also attended by Congress MLA and Maharashtra Congress in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, Rajya E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Asserting that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will examine the issue regarding the purported use of animal fat for preparing Srivari Laddus and take suitable action, Union Health Minister JP Nadda on Friday said he had spoken to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and sought a report on the matter. Speaking to mediapersons on the achievements in the health sector during the first express read Actress case: Vidyasagar arrested Vijayawada: In a major development in the alleged harassment case involving Bollywood actress Kadambari Jethwani, NTR district police arrested one of the accused, YSRC leader Kukkala Vidyasagar, from a private resort in Dehradun | P2 64 dead turtles found in ASR district Visakhaptanam: In another case of wildlife poaching, officials from the Folkspeta forest division discovered 64 dead turtles and managed to rescue seven live ones on the outskirts of Gangavaram in Alluri Sitarama Raju district on Thursday AR Dairy refutes charge TTD EO Shyamala Rao said four tankers of ghee supplied by Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy Food was found to be of substandard quality. Following tests at an NDDB lab, overall purity of ghee was found to be abnormally low. Subsequently, supplies were stopped & blacklisting procedure was initiated. Rao claimed that suppliers took advantage of the lack of an in-house lab to test quality of ingredients. AR Dairy Food Private Limited in Dindigul, one of the ghee suppliers, denied the allegations, asserting that they had supplied highquality ghee to the TTD and are ready to face any legal action. Ex-TTD chief moves High Court TTD former chairman and YSRC Rajya Sabha MP YV Subba Reddy on Friday approached the High Court, seeking inquiry by a sitting judge on the alleged adulteration of ghee used in the preparation of Tirumala Srivari Laddu Prasadam. The court made it clear that it will accept PILs only on Wednesday and directed the advocate to file the plea before that | P3 Laddu politics to divert Naidu finds fault public attention: Jagan with procurement Strongly refuting charges of diluting the sanctity of Tirumala Srivari prasadam, former chief minister and YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday accused TDP supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu of playing with God and sentiments of devotees for diverting public attention from his failure to implement election promises even after completing 100 days in office. Addressing a press conference at the party office in Tadepalli, Jagan questioned, “Is it fair for a man in the Chief Minister’s position to allege that adulterated ghee and animal fat were used in preparing Srivari Laddus? He’s not even leaving God for his politics as he’s afraid that people may pull him up for failing to implement his Super Six guarantees.” of ghee at `320/kg S v i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Jagan said he will send letters to the Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India seeking action against Naidu for seeking to tarnish the image of the State and Srivari temple for his political purposes. Explaining that there was no scope for using animal fats or adulterated ghee in Tirumala, the former chief minister said procurement of ghee is a routine process that is being followed for decades. P3 during the MVA’s rule, infrastructure development of Mumbai city came to a standstill due to internal politics. In contrast, under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, infrastructure projects like coastal road, Atal Setu and airport at Navi Mumbai came up and got completed, he said. Two sessions on economy, Nadda speaks to Naidu, seeks report on Laddu row TTD to blacklist TN-based dairy k a lya n t h o l e t i @ Vijayawada Sabha member of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) Milind Deora and film director Kiran Rao. Chennithala listed the failures of the Maharashtra government and expressed confidence that the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would come to power in the state. The counterpoint came from Milind Deora who said Alleging that neither Prasadams nor Darshanams was of satisfactory level during the previous YSRC dispensation, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said, “Adulterated ghee bought at `320 was used in preparation of Tirumala Laddu and Naivedyam to the God.” Lashing out at the YSRC leaders for claiming that they did not commit any mistake, Naidu found fault with ghee being procured at `320 per kg. Speaking during ‘Idi Manchi Prabhutvam’ (This is a good government) programme at Maddiralapadu in Prakasam district on Friday the , Chief Minister said, “One should think twice when the ghee, which normally costs at least `500 a kg, is being offered at `320.” Accusing the previous YSRC government of desecrating the sanctity of Tirumala, Naidu said he appointed a new Executive Officer for TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) soon after forming government in the State and commenced cleansing of the whole system, besides improving the quality of Laddus. Without naming former TTD chairman and YSRC Rajya Sabha MP YV Subba Reddy, the Chief Minister accused him of committing several blunders and now feigning innocence.  P3 100 days of the Modi government’s third term, Nadda said, “I have learnt about the issue through social media. I spoke to Chandrababu Naidu today and asked him to share the available report so that I can examine it. I will also speak to the State regulators and take their views.” Further, he added the report will be examined and suitable action taken within the legal framework and regulations under the FSSAI. “The FSSAI will examine it, give a report and then we will take action,” P3 he explained.  banking and equity markets discussed the challenges ahead, particularly those on job creation. “Creating jobs is the most critical aspect to sustain the current growth rate, which will lead to the country becoming a middle income economy said banker Keki M ,” Mistry. The for mer Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of HDFC said while the economy is on a solid footing growing at over 7%, to sustain this level of growth “we need to create more jobs”. To a question on the controversies around the Sebi chairman, he said the country’s regulatory framework is extremely strong and robust. Devina Mehra, founder of First Global, said though share prices are at a record high, they are frothy only in certain pockets; so new investors have opportunities. Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi Reports about defilement of Prasad at Sri Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati are disturbing. Lord Balaji is a revered deity for millions of devotees in India and across the world. This issue will hurt every devotee & needs to be thoroughly looked into. Authorities across India have to protect the sanctity of our religious spaces