TIRUCHY l friday l august 29, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION State govts can’t move SC against Prez AND guv on Bills, SAYS Centre State governments cannot file such writ petitions by claiming to be a repository of the rights of the people, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told SC sc: How can Assent be withheld forever? Prez, Guv not bound by timeframe: s-g The Supreme Court’s five-judge Constitution bench hearing a Presidential Reference seeking clarity on whether timelines could be imposed on the President and governors for deciding on bills passed by the State legislatures, said the term ‘as soon as possible’ used in Article 200 of the Constitution will serve no purpose if consent is withheld for “eternity” ■ ■ Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Tamil Nadu, said governors and the President are ‘titular heads’ who have no discretion on executive decision-making, except a very few ones S-G Mehta said the Constitution does not envisage judicial directions binding the President or Governors to act within a timeframe Art 200 Deals with guv’s Assent, withholding, returning, or referring bills to prez 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 Important step India, Canada thaw as both name envoys J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi India and Canada on Thursday named senior diplomats Dinesh K Patnaik and Christopher Cooter as their new high commissioners, filling posts that had remained vacant for over 10 months amid one of the most serious diplomatic crises between the two countries in recent decades. Patnaik, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer and currently India’s ambassador to Spain, will take up his assignment in Ottawa shortly, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand confirmed the appointment of Cooter as high commissioner to India, calling it an “important step towards restoring necessary diplomatic services to citizens and businesses in both countries.” The appointments mark a cautious step toward normalising ties that had sharply deteriorated following allegations by then Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 that Indian government agents were involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey British Columbia. India , had dismissed it as “absurd and politically motivated”. In the aftermath, both countries halted trade talks, expelled diplomats, and downgraded the functioning of their missions. Though Canada follows a 120day process to finalise the agrément—a formal diplomatic approval process—for incoming foreign envoys, in Patnaik’s case, the process was expedited. While the deeper political tensions remain unresolved, the restoration of high-level diplomatic representation suggests both sides are now seeking to stabilise the relationship and move toward normalcy . Bhagwat clears the air on retiring @ 75 RA J E S H KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi Clearing the air over his recent remark on retirement at 75, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday said it wasn’t aimed at himself or anyone else, alluding to the speculation on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I never said that I will retire or someone else should retire... We are ready to retire anytime in life and ready to work for as long as the Sangh wants us to do so,” he said on the final day of the Sangh’s three-day lecture series to mark the centenary celebrations of the RSS. sindhu stuns world no 2 in Round of 16 Storms into Worlds quarters after beating China’s Wang Zhi Yi Page 11 Reacting to ongoing attempts to reclaim Hindu sites of worship in Kashi and Mathura, he denied the Sangh’s participation in it, but added that its volunteers (swayamsevaks) were free to make their own decisions. Bhagwat also suggested that every Indian family should have three children to keep the population sufficient and under control. “To keep a civilisation alive, India’s population policy suggests 2.1 (average number of children), which basically means three. But resources have to be managed too, so we must restrict it to three,” he said. Centenary event On the issue of Hindu Rashtra, Bhagwat said there is no need to declare Bharat a Hindu Rashtra. “It already is. Rishis and munis have already declared it. It does not need any official proclamation,” he said, adding the Sangh cannot change its stance that If Indians don’t budge, I don’t think Trump will: Hassett R a m a s h a n k a r @ Darbhanga Signalling the DMK’s continued support for the INDIA bloc’s campaign ahead of key state elections, party president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra from Darbhanga to Muzaffarpur in Bihar on Wednesday. Speaking at a gathering, accompanied by DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi, Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Stalin accused the BJP of undermining democracy through largescale ‘vote theft’.The yatra is part of the opposition’s efforts to mobilise public opinUnwavering and ion against the alunequivocal leged electoral malsupport for the practice in Bihar. government’s Stalin travelled in stance on not an open vehicle along yielding to the unreasonable with Rahul Gandhi and unethical and other INDIA bloc pressure of the leaders and the group reciprocal received a rousing tariffs imposed welcome from locals on India by US at dif ferent sites along the route.AdSudhir Sekhri, chairman, AEPC dressing the gathering at the Jarang High School in Muzaffarpur, Stalin, who spoke in Tamil, said the deletion of nearly 65 lakh names from the voters’ list amounted to a “massacre of democracy” which was “more dangerous than terrorism”. “I have travelled nearly 2,000 kilometres te voters’ list amounted to a “massacre of democracy” which was “more dangerous than “I reiterate my demands to the union government for immediate relief Chief Minister M K Stalin and Indus- and structural reforms to safeguard tries Minister T R B our industries and Rajaa on Thursday workers,” Stalin said in pressed the union gova post on X. ernment to urgently Stalin had written to intervene after the US PM Modi on August 16, raised tariffs on Indicautioning that tariff an exports, warning hike could derail TN’s of severe consequenctextile sector and es for Tamil Nadu’s CM Stalin and Minister T R B Rajaa render 30 lakh out of economy . jobs. P5 e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai 17-yr-old nursing student dies after illegal abortion A 17-year-old first-year nursing student from Tiruttani died Wednesday night from complications that developed following an illegal abortion perfor med alle gedly by a nurse in an Andhra clinic on t h e i n s i s t e n c e o f t h e g i rl ’s parents. TN family of four die in Chhattisgarh floods Tirupattur: Four of a family, including two children, from Parandapalli in Tirupattur died in Chhattisgarh on Monday due to flash floods on the Sukma– Jagalpur Road, district revenue officials confirmed | P2 22 persons convicted in 2015 Ambur riots case R a m a s h a n k a r @ Darbhanga Signalling the DMK’s continued support for the INDIA bloc’s campaign ahead of key state elections, party president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Voter Adhikar Yatra from Darbhanga to Muzaffarpur in Bihar on Wednesday. Speaking at a gathering, accompanied by DMK parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi, Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Stalin accused the BJP of undermining democracy through largescale ‘vote theft’.The yatra is part of the opposition’s efforts to mobilise public opinion against the alleged electoral malpractice in Bihar. Stalin travelled in Peter Navarro an open vehicle along with Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders and the group received a rousing welcome from locals at different sites along the route.Addressing the gathering at the Kevin Hassett Jarang High School in Muzaffarpur, Stalin, who spoke in Tamil, said the deletion of nearly 65 lakh names from the voters’ list amounted to a “massacre of democracy” which was “more dangerous than terrorism”. “I have travelled nearly 2,000 kilometres to stand irpur, Stalin, who spoke in Tamil, said the deletion of nearly 65 lakh names from the voters’ list amounted to Tiruvallur district police on Thursday arrested the 45-year-old nurse, identified as Violet of Raja Clinic in Pannur village. The g i rl ’s p a re n t s we re a l s o booked under relevant provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act and the Child Marriage Prohibition Act while the girl’s 17-year-old boyfriend was booked under the Pocso Act. Police sources said that the girl’s parents had opposed their relationship and the two teenagers had eloped earlier this month. Based on a missing complaint lodged on August 5, the police traced the pair within two days. The girl was five months pregnant and the couple had gotten married, according to police.  P5 8x8 express read Don’s top Talks still on aides take at multiple aim at India levels: Govt Stalin, TN min warn of 30L textile jobs being at risk, urge centre to intervene R a j a l a k s h m i S a m pat h @ Chennai Hindustan is a Hindu nation. Addressing concerns over foreign funding, he said that there should be no issue if they are used for service work. “But they should be used for that purpose alone. The problem arises when such funds are used for religious conversions. That is why restrictions became necessary .” Commenting on the language debate, Bhagwat said that all of Bharat’s languages are national languages. “All the languages of Bharat are national languages. But, there should be one common link language and it should never be a foreign language.” Police lifeline Police personnel rescuing ST Residential School students trapped in floodwaters at Sarampalli village in Kamareddy district on Wednesday. Around 300 of those children were shifted to safer locations | Express Tirupattur: The Tirupattur District and Sessions Court convicted 22 of the 191 persons booked in the 2015 Ambur riots case, in which around 26 police personnel were attacked | P5