kollam l tuesday l september 16, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION three ministers inducted by nepal’s new PM Karki sworn in Nepal’s interim PM unveiled her first ministers on Monday, as the nation seeks to restore order after deadly clashes ousted PM KP Sharma Oli Nepal’s new ministers (from left) Kulman Ghising, Om Prakash Aryal and Rameshwor Khanal after being sworn in on Monday in Kathmandu | PTI seasoned advocate is new home minister parliamentary polls in six months Om Prakash Aryal, an advocate known for cases tackling corruption and human rights, takes the critical home minister post, as well as law, justice and parliamentary affairs. Kulman Ghising, former director of Electricity Authority, has energy, infrastructure, transport and urban development, while Rameshwor Khanal, was handed the finance minister post | P9 ■ ■ The Cabinet, mandated to hold parliamentary polls within six months, now has four members, including Prime Minister Sushila Karki, who will oversee the remaining ministerial portfolios President Ramchandra Paudel administered the oath of office to the new ministers at a ceremony at the President’s Office, Sheetal Niwas 10.5% is the most recent unemployment rate of nepal, as per an estimate 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 Court flags discrepancies in gold plating records of Sabarimala idols E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi Court’s concerns The Kerala High Court on Monday raised concerns over missing details of the gold used for cladding the ‘dwarapalaka idols’ on either side of the sreekovil at the Sabarimala temple, pointing out discrepancies between official records from 1999 and the handover documents of 2019. When the suo motu case — initiated based on the report of the Sabarimala Special Commissioner regarding the detachment of gold plates from the idols without prior permission of the court — came up for hearing, a division bench comprising Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K V Jayakumar directed the superintendent of police (SP) to seize and produce before the court all remaining records, including mahazars. The court further ordered the production of documents showing the quantity of gold If the dwarapalaka idols were gold-cladded using traditional methods in 1999, what persuaded the TDB to permit Unnikrishnan Potty to subject them to gold plating again, by taking them out of the state and without seeking the court’s permission, requires enquiry. Asia Cup Pak threatens to pull out if match referee is not removed F i r o z M i r z a @ Chennai A day after India refused to shake hands with Pakistan after recording a comprehensive win in the Asia Cup match, the issue snowballed into a major controversy . In a letter to the International Cricket Council, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) threatened to withdraw from the Asia Cup if their demand of immediate removal of match referee Andy Pycroft is not met. The letter was written soon after the match. Interestingly, former BCCI secretary Jay Shah is the ICC chair. “The ICC has been told specifically that if the match referee Pycroft will not be changed, Pakistan will not play any more Asia Cup match,” a PCB source told this daily . Interestingly, Pycroft was given the similar responsibility by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), which incidentally is headed by PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, for the second match between Hong Kong and Sri Lanka on Monday . Besides, the PCB has also requested the ICC not to send the 69-year-old Pycroft, who is a former Zimbabwe player, to Pakistan for the upcoming tour of South Africa. The Pakistan board made the demand through a separate letter sent t o t h e I C C o n M o n d ay morning. The PCB held the match referee responsible for the ‘no handshakes’ fiasco wherein India players refused to shake hands with their Pakistan counterparts after Sunday’s match. If the copper plates were indeed cladded with gold, records must exist documenting the same, including the exact quantity of gold used as traditional methods were followed. used in 1999 for cladding the dwarapalaka idols, the name and details of the sponsor and artisan involved, the quantity used for the 2019 plating, the gold required for the ongoing 2025 process, and the manner of recovery and reuse of the gold, along with all related records. Records regarding the second set of dwarapalakas and the peedam, reportedly retained in the strong room, were also sought. The bench noted that records clearly reveal the copper plates covering the dwarapalakas were gold-cladded and installed with the sanction of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) in 1999. A general mahazar, dated July 19, 2019, states that sponsor Unnikrishnan Potty of Bangalore had approached the TDB seeking permission, at his own expense, to carry out gold plating of the dwarapalaka idols. In the presence of the Thiruvabharanam Commissioner, Sabarimala Devaswom Executive Officer, administrative officer, thantri of the temple, engineers, and the devaswom smith, 12 copper plates weighing 25.400 kg that covered the idols were removed and entrusted to the sponsor ● More on P4 for gold plating.  Cracks within Cong leadership after Rahul’s House visit E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram Rahul Mamkootathil’s short-yet-damaging visit to the assembly on Monday has led to a virtual divide within the Congress leadership. While Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan is evidently unhappy with the tainted MLA’s move, the state leadership, especially the three working presidents who are fast emerging as a new power centre, is not. Meanwhile, Rahul seems to be going all out in a win-or-lose battle to reclaim his lost glory within the party . The KPCC-DCC office-bearers meet, held hours after the assembly adjourned for the day, witnessed sharp criticism against the leadership over lack of clarity in its stance on the entire episode. Rahul’s mentor Shafi Parambil, who is also a working president, was conspicuously absent. Satheesan chose to remain silent on the issue at the meet, apparently to express his protest over some senior leaders favouring the tainted MLA. K Muraleed- The Congress should’ve openly distanced itself from Rahul. Though the party has taken action, there’s a lot more do V T Balram, KPCC vice-prez haran and V T Balram raised the issue as they severely criticised Youth Congress district president Nemon Shajeer, who had accompanied Rahul to the assembly. Balram asked how the party can defend this on social media. He was also unsparing in his criticism of senior leaders who “openly take contradictory positions on the issue”. Though KPCC president Sunny Joseph tried to explain his response to media queries earlier in the day, Balram refused to buy the argument. He pointed out a lack of clarity in what Sunny said. The Congress should’ve openly distanced itself from Rahul. Though the party has taken action, there’s a lot more do, he said. To which, many s aid Rahul shouldn’t have attended the assembly on ● More on P4 Monday  . US team arrives for trade talks today PUSHPITA D E Y @ New Delhi US TikTok deal done, Trump-Xi talks on Friday US chief negotiator and Assistant Trade Representative for south and central Asia Brendan Lynch arrived in Delhi on Monday night to revive the trade talks that were stalled after the Trump administration waged a tariff war on Indian goods ostensibly to penalise India over its trade ties with Russia. Lynch and his team of negotiators will hold formal talks with Indian officials on the India-US bilateral trade agreement on Tuesday, confirmed US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that Washington has reached a ‘framework’ deal with China on the ownership of TikTok’s American operations. US President Donald Trump will speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday to finalise the deal, he added | P9 Rajesh Agarwal, India’s chief negotiator and a special secretary commerce ministry , . This will be the first in-person discussion between the representatives of the two countries after the US levied a 50% tariff on several Indian goods. While the exact agenda of the meeting has not been disclosed, the visit makes it clear that both sides want the talks to resume at the earliest. Negotiations were put on hold after US President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on several Indian goods and India termed the move a ‘unilateral’ decision. The resumption of talks SC stays a few provisions of Waqf Amendment Act Abolition of ‘waqf by user’ prima facie not arbitrary: Interim order SUCHITRA KA LYA N MOHA N TY @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the operation of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, in its interim orderbut stayed the implementation of certain parts of the law to ‘balance the equities’ and ‘protect the interests of parties’, including the criteria of fiveyear practice of Islam for dedicating property towards waqf. “Section 3 of the Amended Waqf Act (AWA), which says, ‘any person showing or demonstrating that he is professing Islam for at least five years’ shall stand stayed” until rules are framed on how to determine whether a person has been practicing Islam for at least five years, a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih ruled. However, it is nondescriminatory the court said. , The bench stayed a provision on the District Collector adjudicating on the rights of individual citizens, saying it would violate the principle of separation of powers. Till a tribunal adjudicates on the matter, no What ’s in, what ’s out SC says law can be stayed only in the rarest of rare cases Says number of non-Muslims in central waqf councils cannot exceed 4 out of 22 third party rights can be created against any parties, the court said. As for appointing nonMuslims to manage waqf properties, it allowed the Centre to nominate not more than three of them into the 11-member Central Waqf Council constituted under Section 14 of the AWA, and four non-Muslims out of 22 under Section 9 of AWA. The court refused to stay an amendment allowing the appointment of a non-Muslim as a CEO for the board, but suggested that every effort should be made to appoint a Muslim to the post. Refusing to stay the provision abolishing the concept of Provision on five-year practice of Islam for dedicating property as waqf stayed for want of rules, but it is not arbitrary or discriminatory Provision barring declaration of tribal lands as waqf properties upheld Deletion of ‘waqf by user’ provision prima facie not arbitrary ‘waqf by user’, the court said, the requirement of registration came in from the Waqf Act of 1923. If waqfs were not registered since 102 years, they cannot raise their grievance now, the court said. “If the legislature, on noticing misuse of the waqf properties, finds that after the enactment of the impugned Act all such applications should be accompanied by a copy of the waqf deed, the same cannot be said to be arbitrary the court observed. ,” If ‘waqf by user’ is abused to encroach government properties, the legislature can take steps to delete it. It approved the provision to abolish ‘waqf by user’ prospectively . MBBS-BAMS proposed integrated course PUT OFF The proposed integrated medical course, combining MBBS and BAMS at JIPMER in Puducherry, has been put on hold following strong protests | P7 pole star vaults to the sky Armand Duplantis created history by breaking his world record in pole vault again at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Monday. This is the 14th time the Swede has broken the world mark | AP voices of discord Corporation defies collector, Kannur’s war-era siren to keep ringing L a k s h m i At h i r a @ Kannur The six decade-old ‘rhythm’ of Kannur town will not be silenced. The corporation council has decided to retain the corporatioin office siren, a relic dating back to the India-Pakistan war of 1965, despite the district collector’s order to remove it. The siren, which sounds dai- ly at 6am, 1pm, and 6pm, was originally installed to warn residents during wartime. Over the decades, it was woven into the town’s identity — serving as a timekeeper for generations of residents. To many, its wail is more than noise; it is a heritage. The current dispute began after Kannur range DIG Yathish Chandra complained that The siren at Kannur corporation office the early-morning siren was a disturbance to his camp office staff. Following the complaint, comes days after Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanged positive assessment about the trade ties. The visit by the US team was originally scheduled for August 25-29, but it was called off amid high tensions over the massive US tariffs. Trump slapped an additional 25% tariff on August 6 and it became effective from August 27, taking the total tariffs on Indian goods to 50%. The US remains India’s largest trading partner with bilateral trade crossing $130 billion last year. the senior environmental engineer examined the corporation office siren and submitted a report to District Collector Arun K Vijayan. The study found that while the background noise level in the area was 66.2 dB, the siren raised it to 94.9 dB. According to the Noise Pollution (Prevention and Control) Rules, 2010, sound from a public loudspeaker should not exceed 10 dB above background noise and must remain under 75 dB. However, the siren exceeded both limits, recording 28.7 dB above the background level and 19.9 dB above the permissible maximum, according to the study . Based on these findings, the collector directed the corporation to either control the vol- ume or dismantle the device, and that it should not be used other than in disaster situations. The directive warned that the siren will be confiscated if an alternative system was not installed within two weeks. But in a stormy council meeting on Monday members across , party lines rejected the order ● More on P4 outright.  Final hearing on October 7, SC verdict for pan-India SIR 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 said it was presuming that the Election Commission, being a constitutional authority , was following the law during the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and cautioned that the entire exercise would be set aside in case any illegality is found at any stage. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi fixed October 7 for hearing final arguments on the validity of SIR in Bihar, and refused to offer any “piecemeal opinion” on the exercise. The bench also emphasized that its “judgement in Bihar SIR will be applicable for pan-India SIR”. The court clarified that it can’t stop the poll panel from conducting a similar exercise for revision of electoral rolls across the country The bench, . however, allowed petitioners against the Bihar SIR exercise to also argue on the pan-India SIR on October 7. The publication of the final electoral roll on September 30 will not make any difference to the adjudication of the case, the bench said. “What difference will the final publication of the electoral roll make to us? If we are satisfied there is some illegality, we can set it aside,” the bench told the petitioners who have challenged the SIR exercise. The top court is currently hearing a batch of pleas — questioning the validity of SIR — filed by NGO ADR, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, RJD MP Manoj Jha, Congress leader K C Venugopal and Mujahid Alam. In another development in the same case, the court, while hearing a plea by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay refused to , modify its September 8 order directing the Election Commission to permit use of Aadhaar as the 12th document for proof of identity as part of SIR in Bihar. The bench said Aadhaar was made acceptable as an interim arrangement.