BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l december 02, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late CITY EDITION SC refuses to extend Waqf property registration deadline The Supreme court on Monday refused to extend the deadline for the registration of all waqf properties under the Waqf Amendment Act 2025 Petitioners can Approach waqf tribunal Court refuses to examine portal issues A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and A G Masih observed that individuals seeking to register properties under Section 3B of the Waqf Act may approach the waqf tribunal for an extension in accordance with the law. Section 3B of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 mandates the compulsory registration of waqf properties on the UMEED portal ■ ■ Kapil Sibal told the court 10 lakh mutawallis will have to go the tribunal. The court told him tribunal will decide on case to case basis When Sibal highlighted issues with the UMEED portal, through which users upload property details, the bench told him he can “approach the tribunal and say this is the reason” for missing the deadline Dec 6 the last date to upload property details on umeed portal 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 For some time now, Parliament has been used as a warm-up arena for polls or as an outlet for frustration after defeat. It is a place for delivery, not drama - Narendra Modi PM is saying, ‘enjoy the weather’. What weather should the people of Delhi enjoy? At least take a peek outside... 2.2 mn Delhi kids are suffering lung damage - Priyanka Gandhi Parliament winter session: Day 1 SIR rumble rocks Lok Sabha Oppn stages walkout in Rajya Sabha; Minister Rijiju seeks time to take call on the matter J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi The Winter Session of Parliament opened on a discordant note on Monday, with the Lok Sabha repeatedly disrupted and eventually adjourned for the day after Opposition MPs pressed for an immediate debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, even as the government proceeded with planned legislative business. As the House met at 11 am, Opposition members rose, raising slogans on the SIR issue. Speaker Om Birla appealed for order, reminding MPs that the House “is not for slogans” and that “there is ample space outside to do that.” The Lok Sabha functioned for only 18 minutes before the first adjournment. Despite the commotion, the government introduced three key bills — the Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025, the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025. But protests contin- Vice President C P Radhakrishnan’s first day as Rajya Sabha Chairperson | PTI Kharge mentions Dhankar, draws protests Sparks flew in the Rajya Sabha after Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge recalled the “unexpected and sudden exit” of former V-P Dhankhar, saying that the House did not even get time to bid him farewell. The remark made in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggered a volley of protests | P9 ued, with Opposition MPs storming the Well and demanding a debate on SIR underway across 12 states and Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry Assam, which goes to . polls in 2026, is conducting a separate revision. In the Rajya Sabha, Opposition parties staged a walkout KIIT student dies by suicide, third on its campus this year E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar A first-year B.Tech student of KIIT University allegedly died by suicide in his hostel room late on Sunday night. The computer science student was a native of Raigarh in Chhattisgarh. While police began investigation, the 18-yearold student’s family alleged that he was under stress after allegedly being intimidated by the parents of a girl with whom he was apparently in a relationship. Police said they received information about the incident from the university authorities at 10.45 pm and rushed to the hostel. The room was found to be locked from inside and after breaking open the doors, the youth was found hanging from a ceiling fan. KIIT authorities issued a statement terming it ‘a very sad and unfortunate incident.’ “We immediately informed the police which is investigating into the case. The student was in a relationship with a girl and took the extreme step out of personal reasons. He was apparently in- e x p r e ss r e a d Self-immolation bid by woman over harassment Cuttack: A 38-year-old widow on Monday attempted selfimmolation in front the district collector during a public grievance hearing in Banki block alleging harassment by the Banki block social security officer (BSSO) over providing financial assistance. The woman Sasmita Majhi, who had come to the grievance hearing meeting chaired by Cuttack collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, along with her 10-year-old son, reportedly took out a plastic bottle containing petrol from her bag and attempted to set herself ablaze. However, she was stopped just in time by the police personnel | P2 timidated by the girl’s family,” the statement added. Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh and other officers visited the spot later in the day to take stock of the investigation. They interacted with other inmates of the hostel too. Assistant commissioner of police Sonali Singh Parmar said some digital devices of the deceased have been seized and sent for forensic examination. After arriving in the city, the student’s mother lodged a complaint against the girl’s family with Infocity police station which registered a case of abetment of suicide and launched an investigation. The student’s mother alleged the girl’s parents had intimidated him which forced her son to end his life. “The girl is also from Chhattisgarh and was earlier my son’s classmate. She used to compel my son to visit Raipur and meet her. She is studying in Pune. On her request, he had even planned to meet her but her father came to know about it and threatened to initiate police action against him,” she told mediapersons. Continued on P7 later in the evening. TMC’s Derek O’Brien accused the government of “stonewalling” attempts to take up the matter. Responding, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju insisted the government was open to discussion but opposed being bound by deadlines set by the Opposition. “Please give (us) some time. Don’t presume that the government is not ready to discuss… Please don’t put conditions on timeline.” JD(U)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, BJP MP Biplab Kumar Deb, and Union minister Chirag Paswan accused the Opposition of disrupting Parliament for political gain. Earlier, at a strategy meeting chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, INDIA bloc parties resolved to continue pressing for a debate. Although the TMC skipped the meeting, its leaders said they would join the protests. The Opposition has called a joint demonstration at 10.30 am on Tuesday at Parliament’s Makar Dwar. Amid the uproar, the Lok Sabha also passed the Manipur GST Amendment Bill, replacing an Ordinance issued on October 7 to implement GST 2.0 reforms in the state under President’s Rule. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the amendment ensures the state’s GST Act aligns with decisions taken at the 56th GST Council, which rationalised rates on nearly 375 items. Rubaiya case The CBI on Monday arrested an absconder carrying a `10 lakh reward for the 1989 kidnapping of Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya going after cyber crime state-owned app mandated on your phone A r s h a d K h a n @ New Delhi THE Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued a new direction effective November 28, mandating all mobile phone manufacturers and importers to pre-install state-owned fraud reporting app — Sanchar Saathi — on devices used in India. The implementation must be completed within 90 days and a compliance report filed in 120 days. The move, according to the telecom ministry is aimed at pro, tecting citizens from purchasing non-genuine handsets, facilitating easy reporting of suspected telecom misuse, and enhancing the effectiveness of the Sanchar Saathi initiative. Smartphone maker Apple, which had previously pilloried the development of the anti-spam mobile app, along with Samsung, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi will be affected by the new order. Under the new rules, the Sanchar Saathi Sanchar Saathi app must be prominently visible and acA government portal and cessible to users during app to protect mobile users their first device setup, with from fraud and misuse no restrictions on its funcIt lets you check all mobile tionalities. For phones alnumbers registered in your ready manufactured, manuname, block lost/stolen facturers and importers are phones and required to push the app report spam/fraud through software updates. calls (Chakshu) Users won’t have the option The app, launched in Jan to delete the app. 2025, is free and works The Sanchar Saathi initiawith OTP login tive, developed by DoT, combats cyber fraud and telecom security threats by allowing users to verify handset genuineness using the IMEI number. The Central government claimed that the app also helps report suspected fraud, lost or stolen devices, track mobile connections in one’s name, and provides trusted contacts for financial institutions. Government figures show the Sanchar Saathi app, launched in January has helped recover more than 7 lakh lost , phones, including 50,000 in October alone. However, privacy advocates criticised the push, with some calling it “dictatorial”. “Sanchar Saathi is a lost phone tracker, but if it gets embedded with no possibility of removal, it becomes a government tracker on your device…” said Nikhil Pahwa, digital rights activist and founder of MediaNama. Nod to Pak plane carrying aid to SL to overfly India J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Rainy Day A man carries his daughter on his shoulder as students make their way to school amid heavy showers, in Chennai on Monday | P Jawahar | P7 India on Monday gave a Pakistani aircraft flying humanitarian aid for the cyclone victims in Sri Lanka, permission to use its airspace. According to sources, an official request was submitted by Pakistan to India around 1 pm on Monday seeking permission to fly over Indian airspace the same day Since the . request pertained to humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka, sources said the government “expeditiously cleared the request”. It was intimated to Pakistan at 5.30 pm through official channels. The gesture was despite Pakistan banning Indian airlines from using its airspace. It was considered purely on humanitarian grounds, sources said. ED stirs Pinarayi’s masala bond curry further E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @ T’Puram Re-denominated bond THE Enforcement Directorate has served a show cause notice to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac, and the CM’s chief principal secretary K M Abraham over alleged infractions in the issue of masala bonds in 2019 by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The Kerala CM is the chairperson of KIIFB, established by the state government to fund infrastructure projects. Isaac was the finance minister and vice-chairperson of KIIFB Rupee-denominated masala bonds are issued outside India. Indian entities take this route to raise funds from international investors in rupee while mitigating the risk of currency fluctuation when it raised `2,150 crore through masala bonds. Abraham is the CEO of KIIFB. The notice alleged that `466 crore worth of masala bond proceeds were used to purchase land in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. Rejecting the charges, Abra- ham said the deployment of masala bond proceeds was in compliance with FEMA and RBI guidelines. “Only `66 crore, not `466 crore as alleged in the notice, was spent for land acquisition. The RBI has restricted the use of funds in real estate, not for land acquisition. KIIFB’s masala bond was issued in 2019, when the regulatory position was crystal clear: land acquisition for infrastructure projects was permissible; investment in real estate business was not,” he said. He also accused the ED of “fabricating” documents. Isaac termed the show cause notice a ‘gimmick’ orchestrated by the BJP-led government. “Previously the ED sent notic, es and summons on the masala bonds ahead of the 2021 assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Now, another set of summons has been served ahead of the LSG and assembly polls,” he said. SC orders pan-India CBI probe on digital arrest S u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a detailed, unified panIndia probe into cases of digital ar rest, expressing concern over the rise in the number of such cases. “The CBI shall have a free hand to investigate the role of bankers under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act wherever they are found involved in the opening of mule accounts used in cybercrime cases,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant. The court also asked the Reserve Bank of India why it is not leveraging artificial intelligence to identify mule accounts used by cybercriminals and freeze them. The two-judge bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, asked Opposition ruled states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka and Telangana that had withdrawn general consent to the CBI for investigations to grant the consent, so that a comprehensive probe can be undertaken. The court directed all telecom service providers to implement the directions of the Department of Telecommunications on the issuance of SIM cards. “In view of the negligent approach of telecom service providers in issuing multiple SIM cards in one name, we ask the Department to submit a proposal to address the misuse of SIM cards,” the order stated. Millers set to lift paddy from today after govt agrees to their demands E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar The deadlock over lifting of paddy by rice millers from designated mandis has finally come to an end following assurance from the state government to fulfil their demands within twothree weeks. As millers remained resolute in their stand by not participating in the paddy procurement operation which started from November 25, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare minister Krushna Chandra Patra held a meeting with members of the All Odisha Rice Millers’ Association (AORMA) and miller representatives from 30 districts at Lok Seva Bhawan here on Monday to hammer out a solution. “We placed five out of our nine demands before the minister for immediate resolution. He agreed to meet two demands, mainly release of custody and maintenance charges for kharif marketing season (KMS) 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 and revision of transportation charges from 28 paisa to 43 paisa. He sought more time to fulfil the other demands,” AORMA president Mahesh Bansal told TNIE. The minister, however, told reporters after the meeting that he agreed to meet four of the millers demands immediately. The main demand of the millers was enhancement of custom milling charges for raw and boiled rice. “We decided to meet again soon to sort out other issues to which they agreed. I am confident that all the issues flagged by the millers will be resolved after two-three rounds of discussion. The millers assured me to lift paddy from mandis from Tuesday,” Patra said. AORMA general secretary Laxminarayan Deepak Ranjan Das said that the association has requested millers from districts to execute agreement with the State Civil Supply Corporation (OSCSC), the nodal agency of the government for paddy purchase under decentralised procurement system, for custom milling of paddy . The other major demand of the millers is evacuation of about 12 lakh tonne of custom milled rice from their godowns. The minister said that the Ministry for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has already approved lifting of additional eight lakh tonne of rice from the annual estimate of 50 lakh tonne but the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is yet to act on the order. The millers association had recently written to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressing inability to participate in paddy procurement operation until their demands were met by the government. The CM is reported to have directed Patra to resolve the impasse arising out of non-lifting of paddy by millers from mandis following hue and cry from western Odisha farmers.