Kashmir Times office raided for ‘spreading secessionist ideals’ Blast case: Key suspects in NIA custody J&K’s State Investigation Agency raided the office of ‘Kashmir Times’ for allegedly “spreading terrorist and secessionist ideology” A Delhi court on Thursday sent Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay and Dr Shaheen Saeed, who were arrested in the car blast case, to 10-day custody of National Investigation Agency 14 cases of AK-series weapons found: SIA THRISSUR l friday l november 21, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 1 Another judgment shot down Going against a two-judge bench’s order, SC says no timelines for Governor or President to act on bills passed by legislature 2 No deemed assent to bills on the ground that the Governor/ President failed to act within prescribed timelines 3 Actions of President/ Governor on a bill cannot be taken to court. Judiciary gets into the picture only after a bill becomes law 4 Limited scope for judicial intervention if Governor does not act on a bill within a reasonable time 5 Governor has three options on bills assent, reserve it for President’s consideration, or withhold assent and return it to the legislature with comments 6 Governor can reserve bill for consideration of the President even in a second instance, when the bill is represented to him for assent by the assembly in whatever form No timeline for assent to bill by governor, Prez, opines 5-judge SC bench unanimously S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court were unanimous in their opinion on Thursday said that no timeline can be imposed by courts for a Governor or President to grant assent to any legislation, but added they cannot sit on the proposed bills indefinitely . The ‘opinion of the court’ came on a Presidential reference in May following the verdict of two-judge bench in the Tamil Nadu Governor case, which laid down timelines for the President and the Governor to act on bills. The court also smoked out the concept of deemed assent embedded in a two-judge bench verdict by using its plenary power under Article 142. “Articles 200 and 201 of the Constitution are framed to allow elasticity. The imposition of a timeline is strictly contrary to the Constitution. The concept of deemed assent presupposes that constitutional authority would place a substitute role for the Governor, it is antithetical to the separation of powers. We have no hesitation in concluding that deemed assent is virtually a takeover of functions of a constitutiona l a u t h o r i t y. T h e concept of deemed assent is against the spirit of the Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers,” said the bench. Led by Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, the Constitution bench included justices Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar. They said if there is a prolonged or unexplained delay by the Governor, which frustrates the legislative process, the court can exercise a limited power of judicial review to direct the Governor to decide in a time-bound manner, without observing anything on the merits of the bill. “We can issue a limited direction to the Governor to act without observing anything on merit.” The court went on to opine that the discharge of functions by the Governor or President is not justiciable, adding that judicial review can be invoked only when a bill becomes law. Knocking off another prescription of the two-judge bench, the court said the President need not seek judicial review when a bill is reserved by the Governor under P7 Article 200. A spokesperson said a revolver, 14 empty cases of AK-series weapons, three live AK rounds, four fired bullets, four grenade levers and three pistol rounds were recovered from the media house’s office in Jammu. Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of Kashmir Times said she was ‘surprised, not shocked’ as the print edition shut shop in 2021-22 | P8 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 ■ ■ SIT arrests ex-TDB chief Padmakumar E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram Putting the CPM in a precarious position ahead of the local body elections, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Sabarimala gold theft case on Thursday arrested senior party leader and former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president A Padmakumar. A former MLA from Konni and CPM Pathanamthitta district committee member, Padmakumar was arrested after the SIT questioned him for hours in an undisclosed location in the state capital. The police had earlier listed A Padmakumar being taken to Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital for a medical examination| Express the board of 2019 as the eighth accused in the case pertaining to theft of gold from the door frame of the sreekovil. Padma- kumar was the TDB president when the alleged offence took place. Padmakumar was earlier issued notices to appear for questioning, but he did not comply citing personal matters. On Wednesday evening, the SIT asked him to reach Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday . The co-accused in the case, who were arrested earlier, had reportedly testified that Padmakumar took a final call on moving the artefacts from the temple to Chennai. However, Padmakumar denied the allegations and told the interrogators that the subterfuge was the handiwork of the TDB staff. Later in the evening, he was produced before the Kollam Vigilance Court, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. The senior CPM leader’s arrest at a time when the state is on the verge of an election is expected to have major political ramifications as Opposition UDF and the BJP have already targeted the ruling Left front. Sensing trouble, the LDF is all set to launch counter attack. The SIT had earlier arrested former TDB president N Vasu and charged him for conspiracy falsification of records , and involvement in the gold ● More on P5 theft.  US okays sale of weapons worth $92.8 mn to India Nitish Kumar Bihar CM for record 10th time, 26 ministers sworn in M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna India’s procurement of two types of weapons from the US — Javelin ATG missiles and Excalibur precision guided munitions — worth $92.8 million moved a step closer as the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) formally notified Congress on its sale. “The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to India of the Javelin Missile System and related equipment. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress,” notification read. Its estimated total cost is $45.7 million. Another approval notification on the sale of Excalibur projectiles and related equipment for an estimated cost of $47.1 million was issued. JANATA Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar on Thursday took the oath as Bihar chief minister for a record 10th time at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, and several Union ministers and CMs of BJP-ruled states. Nitish was administered the oath by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, along with 26 ministers — 14 from the BJP, eight from the JD(U), two from Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and one each from Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM). Senior BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha are among the ministers. The portfolios of the ministers have not been allotted. Caste equation was kept in mind while selecting the ministers. Thirteen ministers belong to the OBC/EBC categories and five from the Dalit community Eight min. isters are upper castes, including four Rajputs. JD(U)’s Zaman Khan, who had served as a minister in the previous government, is the lone Muslim face. Three women—Lesi Singh, Rama Nishad and Shreyasi Singh— have been included. The new cabinet has 12 new faces. Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves a ‘gamcha’ after Nitish Kumar takes oath as Bihar chief minister in Patna on Thursday | pti