BHUBANESWAR  FRIDAY  APRIL 18, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION ASTRONOMERS FIND SIGNS OF LIFE ON EXOPLANET OFF SOLAR SYSTEM Molecules known to be produced by marine organisms were found on an exoplanet, in a strong evidence of life outside Solar System AN ENIGMA THAT’S 124 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY By analysing data from NASA and the European Space Agency’s Webb Space Telescope, researchers led by scientists at the University of Cambridge detected evidence of dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide in the atmosphere of the planet known as K2-18b. The planet is 124 light-years away; one light-year is equivalent to nearly 6 trillion miles ■ 8 FURTHER RESEARCH NEEDED, SAY SCIENTISTS ■ “It is the strongest sign to date of any possibility of biological activity outside the solar system,” Cambridge astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan said during a livestream on Thursday Scientists stressed that further research is needed to rule out any error or the possibility of other processes to produce compounds TIMES MORE MASSIVE THAN THE SIZE OF EARTH — THE NEW EXOPLANET 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 Govt promises status quo on ‘Nuclear missile’: waqfs, buys time from bench V-P swipe on SC Supreme Court sets May 5 for next hearing, possible interim order on the Act Chief Minister Mohan Majhi presents a memento to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari during the foundation stone laying ceremony, in Bhubaneswar on Thursday | DEBADATTA MALLICK GADKARI’S PROMISE Odisha’s roads will match those in the U.S. soon E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar UNION minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asserted that the road infrastructure in Odisha will on par with those in the US soon. Launching highway projects worth `4,173 crore for Odisha here, Gadkari said a state needs world-standard infrastructure like water, power, transport and communication to accelerate development. “While road projects worth `2 lakh crore are in various stages of implementation in Odisha, it will cross `3 lakh crore in the next couple of years. The road infrastructure in Odisha will be on par with the US,” he claimed. While announcing 13 new highway projects to be constructed in the state at an investment of `9,000 crore, the minister also proposed the Odisha government to start flash chargingbased air-conditioned electric bus service between Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri to decongest national highways and While road ensure faster communication. projects worth Gadkari said, the flash`2 lakh crore are charging bus service will be piin various stages of loted in Nagpur soon and after implementation the pilot-phase, it can be introin Odisha, it will duced on the traffic heavy Cutcross `3 lakh tack-Puri stretch. “The buses crore in the next will have a capacity for 135 pascouple of years sengers and features like execNitin Gadkari, utive class chairs and air hostUnion minister ess like bus hostess. The fare will be 30 per cent less than that of diesel buses. The flashcharging technology allows it to be charged in just 30 seconds,” he said. Among the major projects, the minister said, 241 km Odisha portion of the 464 km Raipur-Vizag economic corridor being built at a cost of `20,000 crore will be completed by December this year and 150 km Ranchi-Sambalpur highway taken up at `8,000 crore will be ready by December 2028. The much awaited 262 km Cuttack-Sambalpur NH-55 being built at a cost of `5,000 crore will be completed by CONTINUED ON P5 June, he said. JOB SCAM Sacked WB teachers get an extension S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi IN a partial relief to the West Bengal government, the Supreme Court on Thursday extended till this year-end the services of terminated teachers found untainted by the CBI in the recruitment scam. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar took note of the state government’s submissions that teaching in various schools has been adversely impacted and fresh recruitment will take time. The court, however, did not extend the services of grade ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees of the state government-run and aided schools. It directed the state government to start the recruitment process on or before May 31 and conclude it by December 31 this year. On April 3, the bench had upheld the Calcutta HC’s fiat to cancel 25,753 teacher appointments in West Bengal government schools, calling t h e s e l e c t i o n p ro c e s s a “fraud”. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Centre on Thursday managed to buy more time from the Supreme Court — which wanted to issue interim orders — to explain its position on the genesis of the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. It agreed to file a preliminary response to the pleas challenging the validity of the Act within a week, adding no appointments would be made to the Central Waqf Council and the Waqf Boards till the next date of hearing, which is May 5. Also, no waqf, including waqf by user, shall be de-notified, nor will their character or status change till May 5, the government assured. “The government will not make any appointments to the Central Wakf Council as per the 2025 Wakf Amendment Act and that properties already declared wakf by user and registered under the original 1995 Act will not be disturbed,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted. A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khan- na and justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanthan, took the assurances on record and asked the petitioners to file their rejoinders five days after the government affidavit. “We clarify that the next hearing (May 5) will be for the preliminary objections and for an interim order,” it said. The CJI is set to retire on May 13. When the hearing began, Mehta urged the bench not to stay the provisions of Act, saying the law was enacted after taking into account many representations and suggestions. “The Union government is answerable to the people of India. The government received lakhs and lakhs of representations... Villages after villages INDIA RUBBISHES K-CLAIM BY PAKISTAN ARMY CHIEF tire region of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the INDIA on Thursday firmly re- country with a portion current, jected Pakistan Army chief ly under illegal occupation by General Asim Munir’s state- its neighbour. ment calling Kashmir The Pakistan army the country’s “jugular chief made his comvein”, dismissing it as ments earlier this week baseless and asserting while addressing a that Pakistan’s only group of overseas Pakiconnection to the region stanis. He referenced is its illegal occupation, the two-nation theory which it must end. — the ideological basis In a strong rebuttal to General Asim Munir for Pakistan’s formaMunir’s remarks, Extion — saying the counternal Affairs Ministry spokes- try’s founders believed Muslims person Randhir Jaiswal said: and Hindus differed in every as“How can anything foreign be in pect: religion, customs, tradia jugular vein? This is a Union tions and aspirations. He urged Territory of India. Its only rela- the diaspora to pass this belief tionship with Pakistan is the on to their children, calling vacation of illegally occupied them “cultural ambassadors” territories by that country .” and encouraging pride in a “suIndia maintains that the en- perior ideology and culture”. J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi are taken as waqf... It is a considered piece of legislation,” said Mehta. He urged the court not to take the “harsh step” of staying the Act and sought a week to file a preliminary reply along with some documents. The CJI said the court has already observed that there were some positives in the Act, but also does not want the situation prevailing now to change. Hence, a stay on certain provisions would be warranted, Justice Khanna said. “There is a thumb rule that courts won’t stay legislations ordinarily But there is another . thumb rule: when the petition is pending before the court, the situation which is prevailing should not change so that the rights of persons are not affected,” CJI Khanna added. As Mehta persisted, the CJI gave his consent provided that non-Muslim members would not be nominated to the Waqf Boards and Central Waqf Council and that registered waqfs wouldn’t be changed. The court said only five writ petitions would be considered as lead cases. The rest would be as intervening applications. CENTRE’S WORD ON THE NEW LAW Non-Muslims won’t be appointed to Central Waqf Councils and State Waqf Boards till the next date of hearing. The provision in the Act is contested Any such appointment made in any state in the interregnum will be treated as null and void All waqfs, including waqf by user, whether declared via notification or registration, will not be de-notified till May 5, the next date of hearing timeline for Prez RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @New Delhi IN a stunning broadside on the judiciary, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday chided the Supreme Court for setting timelines for the President to decide on Bills referred by the Governor. Describing Article 142 (which grants plenary powers to the Supreme Court), Dhankhar said, “Article 142 has become a nuclear missile against democratic forces, available to judiciary 24 x 7.” Dhankhar’s strong words came during his speech to Rajya Sabha interns. “So, we have judges who will legislate, who will perform executive functions, who will act as super Parliament and absolutely have no accountability because the law of the land does not apply to them,” Dhankhar said. “There is a directive to the President by a recent judgment. Where are we heading? What is happening in the country? We have to be extremely sensitive. It is not a question of someone filing a review or not. We never bargained for democracy for this day President being called . Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar speaking to interns on Thursday | PTI upon to decide in a time-bound manner, and if not, becomes law,” Dhankar said. Article 142 of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court the power to issue orders that ensure “complete justice” in any matter before it. “We cannot have a situation where you direct the President of India and on what basis? The only right you have under the Constitution is to interpret it under Article 145(3). There, it has to be five judges or more... Article 142 has become a nuclear missile against democratic forces, available to judiciary 24 x 7”, he said, stressing the need to accept the principle of separation of powers. GET READY TO BEAT THE HEAT Cloud Technology AVAILABLE ON Portable & Versatile Point Anywhere Remote Bladeless Front Grill Anti Bacterial Mesh Filter Powerful, Quiet Cooling & Select Outlets in Major Cities Contact us: E-Mail : customersupport@singerindia.com marketing@singerindia.com Toll Free : 1800 103 3474 www.singerindia.com April 18, 2025