KOCHI l friday l march 07, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION GST Council panel to explore possibility of cess in calamities GST Council has constituted a Group of Ministers to suggest policies for levying a special calamity cess in case of natural disasters in states examining feasibility of cess is next step The seven-member GoM, headed by UP Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna, will examine the constitutional and legal feasibility of levy of a special cess by states for revenue mobilisation in case of a natural calamity. Simultaneously, it would examine whether the special cess should be restricted to specific sectors or should be across the board ■ 1% alternate mechanism not ruled out ■ The GoM would examine and identify the framework to be used to classify an event as a natural calamity/disaster for the purpose of levying special cess by states under the GST regime It is also expected to look into whether any alternate mechanism can be devised for helping states in case of a natural disaster calamity cess on luxury goods was sought by andhra pradesh 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 gadkari fiat Faulty road construction reports under ‘FIR’e pa r v e z s u lta n @ New Delhi UNION minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday recommended registration of a police case against those responsible for faulty detailed project reports (DPRs) for road construction that result in deaths in road accidents. Gadkari said he had observed ‘thousands of mistakes’ in DPRs and blamed civil engineers for the spike in road accident rates and fatalities across India. “The most important culprits are civil engineers… I am directly taking the name because after 10 years of my experience, I am coming to this conclusion. The most important culprit is who makes the DPR. And there are thousands of mistakes… persons who are responsible, we should register an FIR against them and take them i n c u s t o dy, ” Nitin Gadkari said Gadkari. The minister was speaking at the Global Road Infratech Summit & Expo (The GRIS 2025) organised by International Road Federation (IRF) India Chapter in Delhi. Gadkari has been vocal about poor quality of DPRs. In the past too, he has blamed the reports for delay in projects and road accidents. Expressing concern over deaths of young citizens in road accidents, Gadkari said, “Because of small civil engineering mistakes, there are hundreds of deaths. I do not know why there is no sensitiveness… bureaucratic systems take years.” He also called upon industry members to develop strategies to enhance road safety . 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Khalistani bid to Jamaat ties will hurt, CPM warns IUML heckle Jaishankar in London rapped K S S REEJITH @Kollam Govt assails misuse of democratic freedom; UK claims its police acted swiftly, none held Jaya n t h Jac o b @ New Delhi Taking strong exception to Khalistani supporters breaching the security of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in London, India on Thursday said it expects the UK to live up to its diplomatic obligations while deploring the “misuse of democratic freedoms”. “We have seen the footage of a breach of security during the visit of EAM to the UK. We condemn the provocative activities of this small group of separatists and extremists. We deplore their misuse of democratic freedoms. We expect the host government in such cases to fully live up to their diplomatic obligations,” the External Affairs Ministry said. Later, the UK strongly condemned the security breach, saying such attempts to “intimidate, threaten, or disrupt” public events are “completely unacceptable”. The incident occurred when a group of proKhalistan extremists tried to disrupt Jaishankar’s visit for a discussion at Chatham House in London. The breach took place as the minister was leaving the venue after the event. A video circulating online shows an individual aggressively charging toward Jaishankar’s convoy Taking advan. tage of the police officers’ brief hesitation, the protester tore Video grab of the heckler Strongly condemn it: UK foreign office “We strongly condemn the incident that took place outside Chatham House” during the visit, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said on Thursday the Tricolour while others in the group shouted slogans from a distance. Earlier, Jaishankar held talks with the UK’s Secretary of State for Home, Yvette Cooper, focusing on issues such as trafficking and extremism. The British authorities said the police acted swiftly to address the situation. A Met Police spokesperson said the protester was quickly intercepted by officers. He did not get close to the minister. There were no arrests. EXPRESS READ ED raids SDPI offices in T’Puram, Malappuram 26/11 accused moves US court to stay extradition Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided two offices of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in in Thiruvananthapuram and Malappuram on Thursday, and seized several registers, booklets and bank documents | P5 New Delhi: Weeks after US President Donald Trump announced Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s extradition to India, the convict made a last-ditch plea before the US Supreme Court for emergency stay on the decision | P8 H i n d u M arr i a g e A c t Curious case of Indore court denying divorce to Jains A n u r aa g S i n g h @ Bhopal A series of petitions have been filed by the Jain community in the Madhya Pradesh High Court against an Indore family court’s orders denying them relief in matrimonial disputes/matters under provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act. First Additional Principal Judge, Family Court-Indore Dhirendra Singh, refused relief to multiple Jain couples under Section 13-B of the Act, which deals with divorce by mutual consent. In one of the orders passed on a petition of a 35-yearold advocate and her 37-year-old senior software engineer husband, the judge said, “Followers of Jainism don’t have any right to get relief under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, as they have rejected the basic Vedic beliefs of Hinduism and have established themselves as minorities after separating from Hindu religion since 2014.” The judge also said, “followers of Jainism are at liberty to file pleas in accordance with well established old religious and social traditions of their religion, under Section 7 of the Family Court Act to get marital disputes resolved.” A division bench of the MP High Court in Indore, while looking into the controversy appointed Indore, based senior advocate A K Sethi as amicus curiae to assist the court. “Jains have been getting their matrimonial disputes resolved under the Hindu Marriage Act for a long time, since they have no separate marriage law. Indore district has five family court benches, but only one of them has passed the order while hearing multiple petitions in a day last month,” said Pankaj Khandelwal, the counsel in one the cases. Accusing the Muslim League of aligning with “religious extremist elements”, the CPM has warned the party of mass erosion of its popular base if the ties are not abandoned. The working report presented by CPM state secretary M V Govindan at the 24th state conference on Thursday is also critical of the Congress for “shifting” votes in favour of the BJP . “The Muslim League leadership is taking its rank and file into the hands of the Muslim e x t re m i s t e l e m e n t s l i ke Jamaat-e-Islami and SDPI,” the report said. Minority politics is moving towards a new phase. Earlier, the League’s approach was to take all religious organisations along with it. However, that has changed. “Now, the League is aligining with Jamaat-e-Islami, which wants to establish a religious state, and the SDPI. These two outfits and the RSS are two sides of the same coin. Earlier, the two outfits used to field their own candidates in elections. However, that changed and they are now vot- Working report observations League has established alliance with ‘Muslim extremist elements’ like SDPI and Jamaat-e-Islami in view of CPM’s growing influence among secular sections in Muslim community Congress has started transferring votes to BJP candidates. This trend was evident in Thrissur in the last Lok Sabha elections SDPI-Jamaat and the RSS are two sides of the same coin. Earlier, the SDPI and Jamaat fielded own candidates. Now, they are voting for the UDF CPM politburo coordinator Prakash Karat raises his fist for the revolutionary salute at the party state conference in Kollam on Thursday. Politburo member Brinda Karat, state secretary M V Govindan and minister K N Balagopal are also seen | Express ing for the UDF. This alliance with the religious extremist organisations would destroy the base of the League and the UDF,” it said. The report claimed that it was the CPM’s growing acceptance and influence among the Muslim community that has forced the League and the “religious extremist outfits” to change their strategy “We now . have greater influence among the secular sections in the Muslim community it said. ,” The working report also claimed a change of pattern in the electoral relations between the Congress and the RSS-BJP . “Earlier, the RSS-BJP used to shift their votes for Congress candidates, now the Congress has started transferring votes to BJP candidates. This trend was evident in Thrissur in the last Lok Sabha elections,” it said. Congress votes were transferred to BJP candidates in several places in the recent lo- 30,000+ taxpayers declare foreign assets worth `29,208 cr in spl drive d i pak m o n d a l @ New Delhi A special drive to ‘nudge’ taxpayers to disclose their foreign assets and income has resulted in over 30,000 taxpayers declaring foreign assets worth `29,208 crore and additional foreign income of `1,090 crore, according to government sources. The campaign also made 6,734 taxpayers change their residential status from resident to nonresident. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) launched the compliance-cum-awareness campaign on 17 November 2024, urging taxpayers to declare their foreign assets and income in revised income tax returns (ITRs) for assessment year (AY) BJP is trying to divide Kerala, and is encouraging communal politics. The emergence of CASA is an example Common Reporting Standards helped India is an adopter of Common Reporting Standards (CRS), under which more than 125 nations agreed to share financial information of individuals 2024-25. As part of the campaign, SMS and emails were sent to 19,501 taxpayers with high foreign account balances or significant foreign income from interest or dividends above a specified threshold. The tax department also organised 30 outreach sessions, seminars and webinars across India, engaging over 8,500 participants directly . Government sources said approximately 62% of taxpayers approached by the department responded positively voluntar, ily revising their ITRs to declare foreign assets and income. The number of taxpayers disclosing foreign assets and income on a voluntary basis has steadily grown from 60,000 in AY2021-22 to 231,452 taxpayers in AY 2024-25. “This year, due to extensive outreach and awareness efforts, voluntary disclosures witnessed a significant 45.17% growth compared to AY 202324,” said a source. “At the heart of this campaign lies the Trust First approach, which prioritises volu n t a r y c o m p l i a n c e ove r enforcement,” said a government source. cal body by-elections, it alleged. The BJP is trying to divide Kerala, and is encouraging communal politics. “The emergence of CASA is an example. It has the support of the RSS, and is formed to cultivate enmity between minority communities,” the report said. The report categorically stated that party workers should not indulge in partnership deals in the real estate P4 sector.  Daily power use over 100 MU in summer of ‘25 M a n o j V i s w a n at h a n @Kochi As summer sets in, daily power consumption in the state has crossed the 100-million mark. As per the data with the KSEB, Kerala consumed 100.78 million units (MU) of power on March 4. The next day March 5, daily consump, tion rose to 101.73 MU. Daily power consumption had crossed 100 million units for the first time in the state’s history on March 11, 2024, and record consumption of 115.96 MU was recorded on May 3, 2024. KSEB authorities said there is no power crisis in Kerala as power purchase arrangements have been made foreseeing the skyrocketing de● More on P4 mand.