hyderabad l tuesday l september 16, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Nepal’s ministers Kulman Ghising, Om Prakash Aryal and Rameshwor Khanal inducted by new interim PM Sushila Karki on Monday | PTI | P9 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 Pvt colleges call off Pvt hospitals to stop stir as govt agrees to Aarogyasri services over `1,400 cr dues release `600 crore E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad Private professional colleges on Monday called off their strike following an assurance from the state government that `600 crore towards reimbursement of tuition fees would be released immediately The announcement . was made by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka after a meeting with representatives of the Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Education Institutions (FATHI). Later speaking to the media, Vikramarka blamed the previous BRS government for the mounting dues and the financial crisis faced by private colleges. “We have decided to release `600 crore immediately and the remain, ing dues will be cleared in phases,” he said. FATHI president Ramesh Babu confirmed the decision: “As the government has assured us that pending dues will be released immediately we have decided to call off our strike.” , Vikramarka also announced the formation of a committee comprising principal secretaries of the departments concerned, senior officials and representatives of FATHI to simplify, streamline and consolidate procedures for smoother disbursement of fee reimbursements in the future. Over 90% of private colleges across the state had begun an indefinite strike on Monday after the government initially gave no commitment to clear the dues. Several student organisations staged protests across districts, with ABVP activists taking out a rally from Nizam College to Liberty Junction in Hyderabad, demanding immediate release of the funds. FATHI had earlier resolved to keep institutions closed until their demands were met, which included: Release of `1,200 crore before Dasara and clearance of remaining dues by October 31, issuance of a GO putting in place a new reimbursement system by December 31, and fixing September 30 as the deadline for fee disbursement every academic year, starting from 2025–26. The state government owes colleges nearly `8,000 crore in fee reimbursement dues. Tokens worth `1,207 crore were issued last year but funds were never released. Continued on P5 Even as the state government on Monday averted a crisis by agreeing to partially clear fee reimbursement dues and convincing private professional colleges to call off their strike, over 300 Aarogyasri-empanelled private hospitals have announced a statewide strike from Tuesday midnight over longpending demands and dues amounting to nearly `1,400 crore. The Telangana Aarogyasri Network Hospitals Association (TANHA) said members of 323 empanelled hospitals met on Sunday and decided to withhold services after three weeks of failed deliberations with the Aarogyasri Trust and health department officials. TANHA president Dr Vaddiraju Rakesh told TNIE: “We have been in talks with the trust and the health minister’s office for months. For the last three weeks, we have been given only assurances but no action. Private hospitals are crumbling under the financial burden, and for medium-sized facilities, it has become nearly impossible to function. We demand a written assurance from the government along with a grievance redressal mechanism that can be held accountable for systemic failures. Mere verbal reassurances will not do.” Private hospitals had gone on an indefinite strike in January this year over similar demands. The protest lasted four days before being called off after talks with the then Aarogyasri Trust CEO Siva Sankar Lotheti, when the government released `730 crore in pending dues. However, the problem persisted as arrears continued to mount. TANHA said that between January and April this year, around `100 crore was released each month, covering payments only until August 2024. No payments have been made for the last four months. Currently, Aarogyasri dues have been pending for over a year, while EHS (Employees Health Scheme) and JHS (Journalists Health Scheme) dues have been pending for two years, bringing the total to around `1,400 crore.  Continued on P5 ITR deadline eXTENDED by a day to September 16 Following widespread complaints of tech glitches on the tax portal, the tax dept on Monday extended the deadline for filing income tax returns by a day to September 16 express read Row as Centre denies nod for Sikh jatha to Pak Chandigarh: The Centre’s decision not to allow a Sikh jatha to Pakistan has triggered protests with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann saying cricket matches between with Pakistan were allowed but Sikhs are denied permission to access to their sacred shrines. In a letter to Punjab and other neighboring states, the Centre said that given the “prevailing security scenario with Pakistan,” it would not be possible to allow the pilgrimage this November. | P8 Explore solar solutions to cut power bill: CM to GHMC express news service @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday directed officials to integrate all LED streetlight networks across the state with the Central Command Control Centre in Hyderabad and to install LED dashboards at the mandal level to monitor their functioning at night. He suggested that reputed institutions such as IIT-Hyderabad conduct third-party audits on the maintenance of LED lights. When informed that GHMC’s monthly electricity bill stood at `8 crore, the chief minister instructed officials to explore solar power solutions to cut costs. During a review meeting, Revanth Reddy asked officials to delegate powers to sarpanches for the installation and maintenance of streetlights in gram panchayats. Panchayat Raj officials were directed to carry out a detailed survey of existing LED lights and their operational status, particularly in villages where lights were not being switched off at daybreak, and to check if there was any requirement for new installations. He ordered that dashboards be installed in villages under the supervision of mandal parishad development officers (MPDOs), with additional collectors made responsible at the district level. Officials informed the chief minister that villages currently have 16.16 lakh LED lights, maintained by contract agencies in Warangal, Nalgonda, Jangaon and Narayanpet districts. It was noted that misuse of power and poor maintenance could be prevented if sarpanches were empowered with greater responsibility .  Continued on P4 US team arrives for trade talks today P U S H PI TA 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 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 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 . 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 | P11 handshake gate Pakistan threatens to pull out of Asia Cup if match referee 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 In. ternational Cricket Council, Pa- kistan 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 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. 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 to the ICC on Monday morning. SA are scheduled to play two Tests, three T20Is and as many ODIs in Pakistan with the series starting with the five-day match on October 12. 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 and alleged that Pycroft violated the spirit of cricket hence failed in discharging his duties. Final hearing on October 7, SC verdict for pan-India SIR s u c h i t r a kalya n moha n ty @ 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 challenged 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.