3 ministers inducted by Nepal’s PM Karki sworn in kottayam l tuesday l september 16, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Nepal’s interim prime minister unveiled her first ministers on Monday, as the nation seeks to restore order after deadly clashes ousted PM KP Sharma Oli. 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 Nepal’s new ministers (from left) Kulman Ghising, Om Prakash Aryal and Rameshwor Khanal after being sworn in on Monday in Kathmandu | PTI 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 SC stays a few provisions US team arrives for trade talks today of Waqf Amendment Act PUSHPITA D E Y @ New Delhi Abolition of ‘waqf by user’ prima facie not arbitrary: Interim order SUCHITRA KALYA 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 non-descriminatory, 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 Pakistan cricket board wants Pycroft removed Wh at’s in, wh at’s ou t 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 adjudicates on the matter, no third party rights can be created against any parties, the court said. As for appointing non-Muslims 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 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 be made to appoint a Muslim to the post. Refusing to stay the provision abolishing the concept of ‘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. Indian players’ refusal to shake hands with Pakistan players after the Asia Cup clash has sparked a row. The PCB has threatened to withdraw from the event if match referee Andy Pycroft is not removed 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 Bihar SIR: Final hearing on October 7 s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y US TikTok deal done, Trump-Xi talks on Friday 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 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. dwarapalaka idols Court flags discrepancies in records of gold plating @ New Delhi E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi 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 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 Jaya- kumar 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 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 idols and the peedam, reportedly retained in the strong room, were ● More on P4 also sought. EXPRESS READ SHO involved in fatal hit-and-run suspended T’Puram: Parassala station house officer (SHO) P Anilkumar was on Monday suspended in connection with the hit-and-run in which a 59-year-old daily wage worker was killed near Kilimanoor on September 7. South Zone IG S Shyamsundar ordered the suspension. The probe has been handed over to the district crime branch. 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