chennai l friday l november 21, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 42 l late city EDITION Kashmir Times office raided for ‘spreading secessionist ideals’ J&K’s State Investigation Agency raided the office of ‘Kashmir Times’ for allegedly “spreading terrorist and secessionist ideology” 14 cases of ak-series weapons found: SIA BLAST CASE: LENS ON iNDIAN MUJAHIDEEN AIDE 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 office of the media house in Jammu. Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of Kashmir Times told a news magazine she was ‘surprised, not shocked’ as the print edition shut shop in 2021-22 ■ ■ Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Thursday sent Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie , Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay and Dr Shaheen Saeed in the car blast case to 10 days of NIA custody | P11 Delhi Police has uncovered a fresh lead pointing to fugitive Indian Mujahideen operative Mirza Shadab Baig, an ex-student of Al-Falah 15 DAYS CUSTODY FOR FOUR PRIME ACCUSED IN BLAST CASE WAS SOUGHT BY NIA 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 Junior Kushwaha surprise pick in Nitish’s 10th as CM RAMASHAN K AR @ Patna JANATA Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar on Thursday took the oath as Bihar chief minister for the 10th time at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, several Union ministers and chief ministers 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. Thirteen ministers belong to the OBC/EBC categories and five from the Dalit community. Eight ministers are upper castes, including four Rajputs. JD(U)’s Zaman Khan, who had served as a minister in the previous govern- Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves a ‘gamcha’ after Nitish Kumar takes oath as CM, in Patna | PTI ment, is the lone Muslim face. Three women—Lesi Singh, Rama Nishad and Shreyasi Singh—have been included in the cabinet. The new cabinet has 12 new faces. Rashtriya Lok Morcha founder Upendra Kushwaha’s son Deepak Prakash, who did not contest the Assembly elections, is a surprise pick. express read US approves sale of weapons worth $92.8 million to India Donald Trump Jr visits Taj Mahal; Udaipur up next New Delhi: India’s procurement of Javelin ATG missiles and Excalibur precision guided munitions, worth $92.8 million, moved a step closer as the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency formally notified Congress on its sale Lucknow/Jaipur: Donald Trump Jr, son of US President Donald Trump, visited the Taj Mahal on Thursday. He will reach Udaipur on Friday to attend the wedding of Netra Mantena, daughter of US-based billionaire Rama Raju Mantena, and Vamsi Gadiraju 1 Going against a two-judge bench’s order, SC says no timelines for Governor or President to act on bills passed by legislature Another judgment shot down 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 4 Judiciary gets into the picture only after a bill becomes law 5 Limited scope for judicial intervention if Governor does not act on a bill within a reasonable time 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 guv, President: SC S U CHI T RA K ALYAN MOHAN T Y @ New Delhi A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court was unanimous in its opinion on Thursday that no timeline can be imposed by courts for a Governor or the President to grant assent to any legislation, but added that they cannot sit on the proposed bills indefinitely . The ‘opinion of the court’ came on a Presidential reference in May following the verdict of a 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 Consti- tution 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 constitutional authority The 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 Gover- nor, the court can exercise a limited power of judicial review to direct the Governor to decide in a timebound manner, without observing anything on the merits of the bill. 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 Article 200. “If in extraneous consideration, the President wants to seek, it can,” the bench said. It also accepted the Union government’s submission that the Governor need not act as per the aid and advice of Cabinet.  P11 SC’s “opinion” may not affect 2-judge ruling on 10 TN bills T Mu r u g a n a n d h a m / R S i v a ku m a r @ Chennai The “opinion” provided by the five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on the Presidential Reference regarding the powers of Governors and the President regarding assent for bills will not affect the earlier judgment of a two-judge bench of the court that granted “deemed assent” to 10 TN Bills that faced prolonged delays from Governor R N Ravi, at least two senior counsels and a retired judge told TNIE. With TN’s challenge of the interim stay granted by a vacation bench of the Madras HC for nine of these bills from becoming operational coming up for hearing in the SC in December first week, the SC’s opinion assumes significance. It is noteworthy that during the previous hearing in this case, the centre had argued that the SC should wait for the Constitution bench’s opinion on the Presidential Reference.  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