bengaluru l saturday l october 18, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION time’s up for mehul choksi as belgian court okays extradition In a strong validation for India’s case, a court in Antwerp on Friday cleared the extradition of fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi to India Key accused in `13,000 cr pnb fraud case to be housed in mumbai’s arthur road jail Choksi is a key accused in the over $1.6 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, along with his nephew Nirav Modi. He fled India in January 2018, just before the scam came to light. In November 2023, Choksi reportedly traveled to Belgium for medical treatment. The CBI and ED made an extradition request to Belgium, leading to his arrest on April 11 this year ■ ■ Indian authorities have assured their Belgian counterparts that Choksi would be housed in Barrack 12 at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, with no chance of overcrowding or possibility of solitary confinement | P11 Nirav Modi, declared a fugitive economic offender, has been lodged in a London jail since he was held there in 2019 based on India’s request Jan 2018 is when pnb officials realised about the massive fraud 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 Key dates November 1 to 7 Contractors’ association sets Dec 1 deadline to clear dues M o h a mme d Ya c o o b @ Bengaluru The Karnataka State Contractors’ Association set the December 1 deadline to the state government to release pending dues of Rs 33,000 crore. It threatened to stop all ongoing work across the state. Association president Manjunath R said on Friday that they met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and he promised to address their concerns. “We have waited for 2.5 years. We will wait for 44 more days. If dues remain unpaid, we will not only stop work, but also approach Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal,” he added. “The CM said he will hold a meeting after the festival. If the problem is not resolved, we will complain to the governor in December,” he warned, explaining the plight of contractors, who often switch off their phones during festivals to avoid demands from workers for pending salaries and bonuses. The association claimed that corruption still exists, but their main focus is to get pending dues cleared. “I have said in the letter that the percentage of commission to release the money has doubled, he said. P8 historic tanvi 1st indian woman to confirm medal in 17 years The 16-year-old Tanvi Sharma advances to semifinals of BWF World Junior Championships | P17 Vote chori SIT raids Ex-MLA Guttedar’s house The CID’s Special Investigation Team searched the residences of ex-BJP MLA Subhash Guttedar in connection with the alleged voter list tampering case in Aland | P7 Option for citizens to do self-enumeration November 10 to 30 Pre-test of first phase in select locations in all states and Union territories. First phase includes Houselisting and Housing Census Apr 1, 2026 to Feb 28, 2027 Actual Census-2027 exercise in two phases Phase-1 Phase-2 From April 1, 2026: Includes Houselisting, compiling data on housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household Scheduled to begin on Feb 1, 2027: Population Enumeration, demo- graphic, socioeconomic, cultural, and other details of every person in each household will be recorded Census-2027 system pre-test from Nov 10 M U K E SH RA N J A N @ New Delhi Setting the testing process of Census2027 in motion, the Centre on Friday said the first phase of the Population Census will be conducted in select areas across states and Union Territories from November 10 to 30. Parallelly, a digital self-enumeration window for citizens will be open from November 1 to 7, a gazette notification issued by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, said. The pre-test aims to assess the efficacy of the Census, which will be conducted between April 1, 2026 and February 28, 2027, in two phases. The test is meant to check for bugs in the systems, identify challenges and refine methods before the full-scale Census. During the test phase, all aspects of the exercise — from questions, data collection, training, logistics and mobile application to software performance — will be assessed to rectify issues. In Phase-1, the Houselisting Operation, data on housing conditions, assets and amenities of each household will be collected. In Phase-2, the Population Enumeration (PE), demographic, socio-economic, cultural, and other details of every person in each household will be recorded. The PE is scheduled to begin on February 1, officials said. The reference date for the Census is March 1, 2027, for most parts of India, while for Ladakh and snow-bound regions of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it will be October 1, 2026. Over 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors, along with around 1.3 lakh Census functionaries, will be deployed for the massive data collection exercise. Dy CM, 19 freshers No appointments based in Gujarat ministry on internal quota: HC D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad Gujarat on Friday witnessed a total reset of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s ministerial team ahead of the local body elections, with the elevation Harsh Sanghvi as Deputy Chief Minister in a 26-member ministry that includes 19 freshers. The reshuffle blends caste arithmetic, political muscle and strategic messaging, while dropping several old and Congressorigin ministers. Sanghvi took the oath first, marking his formal elevation as Deputy Chief Minister. His rise is more than ceremonial as it cements his place as a key power centre in the government and reflects the BJP’s calibrated grooming of its next rung of leadership. The new ministry has seven Patidars, eight OBCs, three members of the Scheduled Castes, four Scheduled Tribes, and three women, including Rivaba Jadeja, wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru In a major development, the Karnataka High Court has restrained the state government from making appointments to the state civil services based on a notification dated August 25, 2025 introducing internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) and sub-classifying the communities into three different groups. Passing an interim order on a petition filed by the Confederation of Untouchable Nomadic Communities of Karnataka and others belonging to nomadic and semi-nomadic castes under SCs, Justice Suraj Govindaraj clarified that the recruitment process can go on, but appointments cannot be made based on such a process. Granting time till November 5 to the state to file objections, the court adjourned the hearing to November 13. Praying the court to quash the notification, saying it is contrary to various judgments of the apex court, the petitioners stated that the government divided various SC communities into three groups A, B and C and distributed the 17% reservation. But the commission headed by retired high court judge Justice Nagamohan Das had recommended five groups after surveying the communities in early 2025. The sub-categorisation by the state government is unscientific, irrational and without adequate determining principles, their petition stated. CONTINUED ON: P8