visakhapatnam l saturday l august 09, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION SC will examine sedition law’s constitutional validity A 3-judge bench led by Chief Justice B R Gavai issued notice to the Centre on a PIL against the validity of Section 152 (sedition) of BNS ‘rebranded version’ of sedition law pil says law is liable to be struck down Section 152 of BNS deals with the ‘act endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India’. A PIL filed by retired Major General S G Vombatkere, an Army veteran, called Section 152 a “rebranded version” of the sedition law, previously kept in abeyance by SC in July 2022 pending legislative review. Despite this, the new legislation reinstates sedition under a new label ■ ■ The plea said the BNS provision was violative of Articles 14 (right to equality), 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution; and was liable to be struck down Section 152 criminalises acts done ‘purposely or knowingly’, yet neither term is defined in the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, the plea said Sec 124A challenge to this law has also been tagged along with sec 152 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 high-stakes dialogue Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin... We discussed Ukraine and reviewed our bilateral ties During our call, we exchanged opinions on key issues of the bilateral agenda, including trade, economic and investment cooperation Modi, Putin call amid tariff pain, Ukraine summit Russian leader holds consultations ahead of his talks with Trump on ending Ukraine war J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi President Lula da Silva—another US trading partner hit with Prime Minister Narendra a 50% tariff—and amid reports Modi and Russian President of an accelerating Trump-Putin Vladimir Putin held a high- summit, possibly as early as stakes phone conversation on next week. Friday, reaffirming their comAdding to the geopolitical mitment to deepen India-Rus- complexity, Kremlin aide Yuri sia ties amid intensifying US Ushakov confirmed Thursday pressure over New Delhi’s en- that a venue had been selected ergy dealings with Moscow. for the proposed Trump-Putin The call comes on meeting. While the ofthe heels of a major ficial location remains escalation by the US, undisclosed, Putin sugwhere President Dongested that the United ald Trump signed an Arab Emirates would executive order slapbe a “suitable” host. ping a steep 50% tariff In a further twist, on Indian imports of Ushakov revealed disNo trade Russian oil, seen widecussions of a possible talks ly as a direct warning three-way summit into India over its convolving Trump, Putin, US President tinued energy partnerand Ukrainian PresiTrump ruled ship with Russia. dent Volodymyr Zelenout any trade “Had a very good talks with India skyy The Kremlin has . and detailed conversayet to comment offiuntil the tariff tion with my friend cially on that possibilissue is P re s i d e n t P u t i n , ” ity For his part, Putin . resolved. “No, Modi posted on social expressed cautious not until we media platform X. “We get it resolved,” openness to meeting reviewed progress in Zelenskyy, but added Trump said in our bilateral agenda that “certain condithe Oval Office and reaffirmed our tions should be creaton Thursday commitment to fured,” stressing that the ther deepen the Indiacurrent situation is Russia Special and Privileged “far” from ideal. For his part, Strategic Partnership.” Trump said he did not consider The two leaders also dis- a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting a cussed the ongoing Ukraine prerequisite for his own sumconflict. According to an offi- mit with the Russian leader. cial Indian readout, Putin Amid the shifting global dybriefed Modi on “the latest de- namics, New Delhi’s balancing v e l o p m e n t s c o n c e r n i n g act is increasingly under the Ukraine,” while Modi reiterat- spotlight. On the multilateral ed India’s consistent call for “a front, China officially welpeaceful resolution of the con- comed Modi’s participation in flict.” The diplomatic timing is the Shanghai Cooperation Ornotable. The call comes a day ganization (SCO) Summit in after Modi spoke with Brazilian Tianjin later this month. express read Man sells 3-year-old daughter for `5,000 Vijayawada: A man allegedly abducted and sold his threeyear-old daughter to a begging gang for `5,000 at Vijayawada railway station. The child was rescued and reunited with mother within 24 hours of missing complaint being filed | P3 CM Naidu to Mark Tribal Day in ASR Dist Visakhapatnam: CM Naidu will visit ASR district on Saturday to participate in International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples celebrations. He will attend events in Vanjangi and Lagisapalli villages, including interactions with tribal community members | P4 Govt pulls I-T bill in LS, set to table final version on Monday DIPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday withdrew the Income Tax Bill 2025, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on February 13 to replace the Income Tax Act 1961. A fresh version of the bill, incorporating most of the recommendations of the Select Committee chaired by BJP member Baijayant Panda, will be tabled in the House on Monday . Sources said the earlier draft was withdrawn to avoid confusion due to multiple versions of the legislation and to present a consolidated text with all changes included. The finance ministry said the government has accepted almost all recommendations of the Select Committee. Suggestions were also received from other sources regarding fine-tuning the language to convey the correct legislative meaning. The 31-member Select Committee, which submitted its report to the Lok Sabha last month, proposed over 30 major amendments to the bill. These include changes in the definitions of ‘capital asset’, ‘infrastructure capital com- pany’, ‘MSME’, clarifications on property-related deductions, and reinforcement of the ‘actual payment’ rule for claiming business expenses. One significant proposal is the reinstatement of a provision allowing the tax department to issue nil withholding tax certificates for specific payments — a clause dropped in the February draft, which only permitted low TDS certificates. The panel also recommended permitting refund claims even if the returns are filed late. For charitable and not-forprofit entities, the panel suggested replacing ‘receipts’ with ‘income’ for tax purposes, restoring the concept of ‘deemed application’, and providing clearer definitions. Bringing professionals under electronic payment norms, prescribing qualifications for valuers, and ensuring fairness in the application of General Anti-Avoidance Rules were also recommended. In a relief to corporates, the panel said the deduction for inter-corporate dividends in multi-tiered structures should also apply to firms opting for the 22% tax rate, as is the case under current law. @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday deleted its observations criticising Allahabad High Court judge Prashant Kumar for allowing criminal proceedings in a civil dispute case, clarifying that its “intention was not to embarrass or cast aspersions on him”. In its order on August 4, a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had taken strong ex- What is changing 1 Earlier draft bill had some errors leading to confusion. The new version will simplify clauses 2 Revised bill will allow income tax refund claims even if the returns are filed late; earlier provision had tied refunds to ITR being filed within ‘due date’ and this denied refunds to those who missed the deadline for filing ITRs due to genuine reasons 3 Draft bill had inadvertently deleted the words “no deduction”, resulting in removing the concept of nil TDS certificates. The revised bill reinstates that 4 Anonymous donations made to religious-cumcharitable trusts will be exempt from tax; however, trusts that run hospitals and educational institutions will be subject to tax NMC seeks review of HC order in FMGs case E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The National Medical Commission (NMC) has reiterated that the quality of medical education cannot be compromised, particularly in the case of Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) whose clinical training was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. In a detailed seven-page clarification issued to the Andhra Pradesh government on August 7, the NMC emphasized that physical, on-site study of clinical courses is irreplaceable and cannot be substituted with online classes. The clarification came in the wake of two recent Andhra Pradesh High Court verdicts that have caused uncertainty over the mandatory internship period for P4 FMGs.  SC verdict in Nath case rejected plea for digital list of voters, says ECI M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Rakhi harmony A young Muslim woman browses a rakhi stall in Vijayawada on Friday, ahead of Raksha Bandhan celebrations | Prasant Madugula SC deletes its observations against sitting high court judge after CJI’s intervention s u c h i t r a ka lyan m o han t y Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in the Lok Sabha on Friday | pti ception to Justice Kumar’s handling of a case for treating a civil dispute as a criminal case. The bench barred the judge from hearing criminal matters till his retirement, adding, “The Allahabad High Court chief justice shall make the judge sit in a division bench with a seasoned senior HC judge.” However, the SC’s caustic verdict ran into constitutional trouble as the HC CJ is the master of roster, not the the SC. While CJI Gavai was exploring ways to remedy the situation, 13 judges of the Allahabad High Court urged their Chief Justice Arun Bhansali to convene a full court meeting and refuse compliance with the SC order. With the situation snowballing, the CJI urged the Pardiwala bench to reconsider its fiat. The revised verdict read, “We fully acknowledge that the HC CJ is the master of the roster... (But) When matters raise institutional concerns affecting the rule of law, this court may be compelled to step in and take corrective steps.” Rejecting Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of voter list manipulation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday pointed out that the Congress-led Karnataka government itself is using the same electoral rolls for its caste census exercise. It dared him to sign a formal declaration for his claims or apologise to the nation. Regardless of the format of the complaint, it’s the EC’s job to purify the rolls whenever discrepancies are pointed out. Sources in the ECI said that the Karnataka cabinet approved the use of electoral rolls as the base for conducting a caste survey “ the same time LoP (Ra. At hul Gandhi) was dropping the ‘atom bomb’ on electoral rolls, the Congress government was vouching for their authenticity by basing their most important policy of caste census on them,” a source said. ECI officials argued that Rahul was repeating a tired script. “In 2018, they (then MP Congress chief Kamal Nath), tried to mislead SC by producing documents from a private website to demonstrate there are errors in the electoral rolls, saying same face was shown for 36 voters,” an official said. “But, the defects had already been rectified four months before Nath made the allegations and a copy of revised rolls was Photo: Nagaraja Gadekal Can prove vote theft, says Rahul Gandhi Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said if EC provides him 10 years of data — the voters’ list in machinereadable format and videos of polling stations, he can prove theft of voters in several Lok Sabha seats across the country supplied to the party Yet, Nath . sought the poll rolls in a searchable pdf format. The SC refused to entertain it, agreeing with the EC’s position that it would compromise voter privacy .” “The Nath judgment gives a settled position on machine readable document. Raising the same issues again shows that Rahul has no respect for the SC,” the official charged. Rahul alleged that the name of Aditya Srivastava was found in three different states. “But it was rectified months ago,” the official pointed out. Total 25 Arrested 3 senior KGH doctors held in Srushti scandal E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Three more doctors from King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam were arrested by Hyderabad police on Thursday in connection with the Universal Srushti Fertility Center case, bringing the total number of arrests in the city to five and the total number of arrests spanning both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the case to 25. The arrested doctors include Dr. Vasupalli Ravi, Head of the Department of Anesthesia and Deputy Superintendent at KGH; Dr. Usha Devi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics at KGH; and Dr. Ramya, a staff member of the Department of Pediatrics who had previously been arrested and released on bail. Notably, Dr. Ramya is reportedly a close associate of Dr. Namrata, who was also arrested in connection with the case. Dr. Ravi, who had been on leave for the past three days, is the brother of former YSRCP MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, raising questions about potential political involvement. Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar had represented the same constituency in Visakhapatnam during the time of the Srushti case. According to sources, the arrested doctors allegedly worked at the Srushti Fertility Hospital while simultaneously performing their official duties at KGH. P4 120 temples in the State to go plastic free: Government issues orders Vizag to develop 6 theme based cities E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority has announced plans to establish six theme based cities across key locations in and around Vizag. The project aims to create self sustained urban clusters | P4 In a significant development towards making spiritual places plastic-free, the state government has issued orders banning single-use plastic at all major and prominent temple premises across the state. As per the orders, plastic carry bags, plastic bottles, dispos- @ Vijayawada able plates, cups, and other single-use plastic items will no longer be allowed inside the temple premises. Devotees, vendors, and temple staff are being encouraged to use eco-friendly alternatives such as cloth bags, steel tumblers, and leaf plates. Prasadams will be offered to devotees only in steel plates or banana leaves, while general prasadam will be distributed in paper cups or bags made of jute or other eco-friendly materials. Endowments Commissioner Ramachandra Mohan has issued orders to this effect. This initiative is part of a broader vision to promote public health, maintain cleanliness around temples, and preserve traditions in an environmentally friendly manner. Notably, the world-famous Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has already set a precedent by using biodegradable covers for its renowned laddu prasadam and implementing a ban on plastic water bottles in Tirumala. The new initiative will commence at the Sri Kanaka Durga Temple in Vijayawada and will be extended to over 120 major temples across the state. To support this effort, the government has ordered the installation of several RO water plants to eliminate the use of plastic bottles. Additionally temple authori, ties and endowments officials have been directed to appoint a nodal officer to enforce the plastic ban in and around temple premises. Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board Chairman Dr. P . Krishnayya welcomed the government’s initiative, saying, “This effort will significantly reduce plastic waste, increase environmental awareness, and serve as a model for green spiritual tourism. Temple managements should conduct awareness programs, and strictly enforce this ban.”