HYDERABAD  TUESDAY  JANUARY 21, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION NATIONAL COMPANY LAW TRIBUNAL ORDERS LIQUIDATION OF GO FIRST LIQUIDATOR TO PROBE FINANCIAL AFFAIRS The resolution process did not take off and the tribunal has now ordered liquidation of the airline on an application by the Committee of Creditors (CoC). Dinkar Tiruvannadapuram Venkatasubramanian is the liquidator, who will continue to probe the airline’s financial affairs. He will submit a preliminary report within 75 days from the date of start of liquidation | P10 The budget carrier had stopped flying three years ago after being bogged down by financial woes and filed for a voluntary insolvency resolution AIRLINE ONCE HAD A FLEET SIZE OF 54 JETS ■ ■ The airline reported a loss of `1,800 cr, including `800 cr notional loss due to accounting standards in the financial year ended March 2023 At its peak, Go First operated a fleet of 54 aircraft. In May 2024, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation de-registered all planes and by December lessors repossessed 28 aircraft and moved out of India 17 years NO. OF YEARS GO FIRST, EARLIER KNOWN AS GO AIR, REMAINED IN SERVICE 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 TRUMP 2.0 BEGINS NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED AT U.S.-MEXICO BORDER A RAFT OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS EXPECTED The golden age of America begins right now... I will very simply put America first —DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT Donald Trump takes the oath of office during the Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, on Monday. As per convention, J D Vance was sworn in as the vice president just ahead of Trump | AP Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk at the inauguration ceremony | AP A G E N C I E S @ Washington DONALD Trump, 78, on Monday took his oath of office for a historic second term as US president, and pledged a blitz of immediate orders on immigration and the culture wars as he caps his extraordinary comeback. As per protocol, J D Vance was sworn in as Vice President first, followed by Trump’s taking oath as President. With one hand raised in the air and the other on a Bible given to him by his mother, the 47th US president took the oath of office beneath the huge Rotunda of the US Capitol. Trump started his inaugural speech with: “The golden age HYD YOUTH SHOT DEAD IN WASHINGTON DC, family says murder could have been committed by carjackers, seeks govt help to bring body home | P5 of America begins right now,” adding that the US will “flourish and be respected”. In his fiery address, he said “America’s decline is over” as changes will come “very quickly”. Hitting out at the Biden administration for the migrant crisis, he promised to clean up the mess on a war footing. He said he was declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and would deploy troops there to deal with the crisis. He also listed a series of actions to be rolled out: renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, and reclaiming the Panama Canal. On the international trade front, he promised a ‘complete overhaul’ by taxing foreign countries through tar- iff to enrich US citizens. Trump is expected to issue some 100 executive orders. A political outsider at his first inauguration in 2017, now Trump is surrounded by the wealthy and powerful. While Trump refused to attend Biden’s 2021 inauguration after claiming electoral fraud by the Democrat, this time Biden has been keen to restore the sense of tradition. Biden joined for mer presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton at the Capitol. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush were there but ex-first lady Michelle Obama stayed away . Unusually for an inauguration where foreign leaders are normally not invited, this time Argentina’s hard-right president Javier Milei attended the event, along with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. Chinese vice president Han Zheng represented his government. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended the ceremony as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special envoy Con. gratulating Trump, Modi wrote on X: “Congratulations my dear friend President Donald Trump on your historic inauguration as the 47th president of the United States! I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit both our countries, and to shape a better future for the world. Best P9 wishes...” BIDEN ISSUES PREEMPTIVE PARDONS Hours before Trump’s swearing-in, outgoing president Joe Biden on Monday issued pre-emptive pardons to Dr Anthony Fauci, retired Gen Mark Milley, and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol PUTIN CONGRATULATES TRUMP, SIGNALS THAW Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Donald Trump just before his swearing in. “We hear Trump’s statements about restoring direct contacts with Russia, which were halted by the outgoing administration... We welcome the approach,” he said Special Assembly session likely to adopt resolution on 42% BC quota in local polls B K A R T H E E K @ Hyderabad TO honour the pre-election promise made by the Congress to increase reservations for Backward Classes (BCs) to 42% in local body elections, the state government is set to convene a special session of the state Legislature to adopt a resolution on enhancing the quota. The enhanced quota is an integral part of the BC Declaration unveiled by the Congress in the runup to the 2023 Assembly elections. The official grapevine has it that the state government will convene the special session either in late January or early February . Significantly, the Congress has, in principle, already made a decision to allocate 42% of its tickets to BCs, regardless of potential legal challenges, sources revealed. The resolution, once adopted, PRESS CLUSIVE will call on the Union government to revise the reservation policy to ensure the BC population is proportionately represented, the sources disclosed. The state government is weighing legal options to align its strategy on quota with the Supreme Court’s previous rulings capping the reservations to 50%, they confided. Government sources indicated that two key reports — the Dedicated Commission’s study on BC quotas in local bodies and the findings of the comprehensive Samagra Intinti Kutumba Survey — are ready and set to be submitted once Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy returns from his foreign tour. These reports, which delve into socioeconomic, educational, employment and caste dynamics, will form the basis of the government’s push for enhanced reservations, those privy to the information disclosed. The Dedicated Commission was constituted to conduct a rigorous empirical study into the nature and implications of the BC quota in local bodies. Sources said that the Congress government will conduct local body elections only after taking all the necessary steps to increase the BC reservations. Telangana plans power plant at Odisha’s Naini to cut costs E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad ANNOUNCING that the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) will commence extraction of coal from its Naini mine in Odisha from March, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Monday expressed interest on behalf of the Telangana government to set up a thermal power plant near the mine to produce 2x800 MW power. Requesting Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to allot suitable land for enabling SCCL to establish the thermal power plant near the mine, Vikramarka suggested two sites — Jarpada/ Tukuda, and Handappa/ Binanali. Vikramarka, who also holds the Energy portfolio, called on the Majhi on the sidelines of the 3rd National Mining Ministers’ Conference being held at Konark and expressed gratitude for Odisha’s support to Telangana to extract coal from Naini in Angul district of that state. In a written representation to Majhi, Vikramarka pointed out that Naini is a captive block — a coal or mineral mine owned by a company that uses the resources exclusively for its own needs — and said that the coal produced from the mine is to be supplied to the end use plant, i.e., 2x600 MW Singareni Thermal Power Plant (STPP) in Mancherial district. Pointing out that the said plant was about 1,000 km away the dep, uty CM disclosed that the Telangana government has come up with an idea to set up the plant near the mine to eliminate transport costs. The Odisha chief minister agreed to the request and assured support. CONTINUED ON P4 INSIDE EIGHT CHOSEN FOR 1ST-EVER GOVERNOR’S EXCELLENCE AWARDS | P2 Lifer till death for RG Kar accused S U L A G N A S E N G U P TA @ Kolkata A Sealdah court on Monday sentenced Sanjay Roy the lone , accused in the horrific rapemurder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August last year, to life imprisonment till death. The court, however, rejected the prosecution’s demand for death penalty saying it was not a “rarest of the rare” crime. Additional District and Sessions Judge Anirban Das ordered Roy to pay `50,000 as penalty and directed the West Bengal government to give the victim’s family `17 lakh as compensation — `10 lakh for death and `7 lakh for rape while at work. But the victim’s father refused to accept it. He instead demanded capital punishment of the accused. The judge said, “I don’t think money can compensate for any death. It was the liability of state to protect your daughter as she was on duty (when the Different strokes While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and junior doctors at RG Kar were unhappy with the verdict, the National Commission for Women welcomed it horrific rape-murder happened). This is a statutory provision. If you take it, you can use it. I gave whatever I felt. You can move a higher court.” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was not happy with the verdict, and so did junior doctors at RG Kar. The victim’s colleagues cited unresolved questions and the absence of action against other potential suspects. They wanted a more thorough probe, including the motive and the involvement of others. However, the National Commission for Women welcomed the ruling. Roy was convicted by a special court on Saturday, nearly six months after his arrest. U’KHAND CABINET CLEARS UCC RULES N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun THE Uttarakhand Cabinet on Monday approved the Uniform Civil Code’s (UCC) regulations, close to a year after the legislation was passed by the state assembly Chief Min. ister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the date of its implementation will be announced soon. Sources suggested it could be notified on January 26, a day after the results of the January 23 municipal elections is announced. A mock drill of a UCC portal set up by the government will be held on Tuesday Govern. ment officials tasked with managing the portal have already been given ample training. Uttarakhand’s UCC encompasses various aspects of personal law, including marriage, divorce, maintenance, property rights, adoption and inheritance. “The code recognises live-in relationships, ensuring that children born from such unions are entitled to equal inheritance rights,” an official stated. The UCC aims to establish a uniform legal framework applicable to all individuals, regardless of their religion, caste or community . However, the state’s tribals are out of its ambit. Asad: Does ex-CJI Gogoi think India is not united? Hyderabad: AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday questioned the statement of former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was necessary for national integration. “Is he saying that India is not united?” the MP from Hyderabad questioned | P4