saturdAY 14 september, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard Centre renames A&N Capital Port Blair as Sri Vijaya Puram boeing First strike by workers in 16 yrs The capital city of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been renamed to free India from colonial imprints, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Thousands of Boeing factory workers in the US walked off the job on Friday after voting overwhelmingly to reject a contract with the aviation giant. Territory was Chola Empire’s Naval base A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 l New Delhi Prolonged incarceration is unjust deprivation of liberty, says court Ticks off CBI saying it must dispel notion of being a ‘caged parrot’ SC raps CBI, grants bail to Kejriwal J8.00 @ Mumbai IN a dramatic volte-face, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday threw out its own case against the NSE and its past management led by then CEO Chitra Ramakrishna and vice-chairman Ravi Narain in the co-location case, citing lack of evidence. This paves the way for India’s largest bourse to resume its public listing plan, which has been stalled since 2016 due to the co-location controversy . The case relates to the alleged preferential access given to certain broking firms, including OPG Securities, at the NSE to connect across the colocation facilities. According to Sebi, there may have been lapses at the NSE’s colocation facility but not enough evidence to establish collusion between the NSE and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses supporters outside Tihar Jail after getting bail | Parveen Negi These anti-national forces that are trying to weaken the nation, divide the nation... I have always fought them and will continue fighting against them Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi chief minister What it means The bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan relaxed Kejriwal’s bail conditions It dropped the bar on the CM from going to the Secretariat or signing files. Both were imposed by a coordinate bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna on May 10 and July 12 Justice Khanna had also specified that the conditions can be recalled or modified only by a larger Constitution bench It means Kejriwal will have to seek modification of these restrictions by approaching the CJI to set up a larger bench Such conditions were not imposed on Hemant Soren when the SC granted him bail, so he quickly took oath as Jharkhand CM again Kejriwal’s bail will give a fillip to the AAP’s poll preparations in Haryana l PAGES 12 Sebi sees no NSE co-location scam Express News Service S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Hours after the Supreme Court granted him bail in the excise policy case filed by the CBI, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of Tihar jail, and said, “the thick walls of prison cannot break me.” While granting him bail, justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan differed on the legality of his arrest. Justice Kant held that there was no impediment in arresting a person already in the custody However, . Justice Bhuyan castigated the CBI, saying it should not be seen as a ‘caged parrot’. Justice Kant said although the procedure for the Kejriwal’s arrest meets the requisite criteria for legality and compliance, his continued incarceration would infringe upon established legal principles and his right to liberty Rejecting the CBI’s contention of . influencing the outcome of the trial, he said all evidence and material relevant to the agency’s disposition is already in their possession, negating the likelihood of tampering by the CM. Setting aside the Delhi HC’s August 5 verdict, the SC said, “The appellant shall not make any public comments on the merits of the CBI case, it being sub judice... This condition is necessitated to dissuade a recent tendency of building a self-serving narrative on public platforms.” Slamming the CBI for its belated arrest, Justice Bhuyan said, “Like Caesar’s wife, an investigating agency must be above board. Not long ago, this court has castigated the CBI comparing it to a caged parrot. It is imperative that CBI dispels the notion of it being a caged parrot. Rather, the perception should be that of an uncaged parrot.” Emphasising that personal liberty is sacrosanct, Justice Bhyuan said, “I am of the unhesitant view that the belated arrest of the appellant by the CBI is unjustified and the continued incarceration of the appellant in the CBI case that followed such arrest has become untenable.” He pointed out that that the CBI did not arrest Kejriwal for 22 months till his release was ordered in the ED case. It appears that only after the Special Judge granted regular bail in the ED case on June 20, CBI became active and sought Kejriwal’s custody Justice Bhuyan , pointed out, adding the CBI did not feel the need to arrest him for over 22 months. p3 l Preferential access The co-location case pertains to the alleged preferential access given to some broking firms in the form of ‘dark fibre’ at the NSE to connect across the co-location facilities faster than others, giving the former unfair advantage Chitra Ramakrishna Chitra Ramkrishna was ousted from NSE in 2016 for her role in the co-location case. In 2022, Sebi charged her with using a ‘Himalayan yogi’ to advise her on important decisions OPG Securities. “It is held that due to the absence of sufficient material/evidence/objective facts on record in this case, the test of ‘preponderance of probability’ fails to produce enough justification for the establishment of collusion/connivance between OPG and its directors with Noticees,” Kamlesh Varshney, whole-time member, Sebi said in an 83-page order. Varshney added: “There is ANIL S @ T’Puram THE demise of Sitaram Yechury has triggered speculations on the next CPM general secretary. According to sources, the party will go for a stop-gap arrangement by nominating a senior leader as the general secretary incharge till the 24th Party Congress scheduled for next April in Madurai. Yechury’s third term was to end in April. Sources said former general secretary Prakash Karat could be asked to handle the party affairs for the time being. A section feels that Brinda Karat, too, could be given interim charge as she’s a prominent woman face in national politics. If the party decides to go for a new face as a full-time general secretary, then M A Other contenders Kerala leader M A Baby and Nilotpal Basu from West Bengal are also among possible choices. Party sources said a relatively junior A Vijayaraghavan from Kerala could also emerge as a front runner Baby or B V Raghavulu (pic) could be chosen. The CPM politburo, set to meet after Yechury’s public homage on Saturday, will take a call in this regard and will present its recommenda- Interim bail to 4 in coaching centre deaths Junior doctors take cover during rains as they continued their sit-in protest against the rape-murder at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata on Friday | PTI Docs seek Murmu’s intervention to render justice With the stalemate between the protesting junior doctors and the Bengal government continuing for the third consecutive day, the agitators on Friday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, urging her intervention to render justice to the rape-murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar hospital here on August 9. In their letter, they mentioned the security lapses inside the hospital and how they feel insecure in the premises. They sought an appointment with her to discuss the matter. Addressing the media later, the junior doctors reiterated the need to speak to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to end the deadlock, but refused to yield on the demand for live streaming of the talks for transparency . Meanwhile, a Sealdah court rejected the CBI’s request to subject the lone accused the rape-murder case, Sanjay Roy, to narco analysis test as he re- fused to give his consent. The agency wanted to use the narco test to verify Roy’s statements. “The test would have helped determine if Roy is telling the truth,” an officer said. Roy had initially agreed to take the test but later changed his mind, CBI sources claimed. The Sealdah court judge spoke to Roy to find out whether he had any objection to what is also called a truth serum test. Narco test involves administering sodium pentothal to induce a hypnotic state, neutral- ising the subject’s imagination, the officer explained. “In most cases, the accused gives the true information,” the officer said. The agency has already conducted a polygraph test on Roy inside Presidency Correctional Home, as part of the probe. In a related development, the Enforcement Directorate received documents related to a medical scam from the sister-inlaw of Dr Sandip Ghosh, former principal of RG Kar, who is under judicial custody p7 . The Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim bail to four co-owners of the basement in a coaching centre in Old Rajinder Nagar, where three civil services aspirants drowned on July 27. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma ordered the release of four on the condition that they deposit `5 crore with the Red Cross Society. The fund is intended to aid in the regulation of coaching centres. P4 10 acquitted for lack of evidence in ’20 riots case A court has acquitted 10 people accused in a 2020 rioting case linked to an FIR registered at Gokulpuri. The court granted the accused the benefit of the doubt. Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala of Karkardooma Court, in an order on September 12, noted that the evidence presented was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. P4 Govt removes minimum export price from onion and basmati J i t e n d r a C h o u b e y @ New Delhi Ahead of the Haryana and Maharashtra elections, the Centre has decided to remove the Minimum Export Price (MEP) condition on export of onion and basmati with immediate effect. Maharashtra is the largest producer of onion whereas the largest basmati rice is pro- duced by Haryana. Farmers are facing challenges due to a higher MEP and have not been able to export the two commodities in the international market. The ruling BJP in both states are facing stiff challenges from voters in the Assembly elections. In the recent Lok Sabha election, BJP governments faced setbacks in onion and basmati growing regions. Aggrieved farmers delivered a blow to the BJP which lost many seats in the two states. The government had imposed MEP of $550 per tonne on onion in May 2024 and $950 per tonnes on basmati rice in October 2023. That led to a slump in domestic prices and losses to farmers and traders. no dispute that the NSE did not have a defined policy for the use of colo (co-location) facility . It even failed to monitor the use of the secondary server by TMs (brokers) without having sufficient reason.” Apart from Ramkrishna and Narain, Sebi has also dropped charges against Anand Subramanian, Ravindra Apte, Umesh Jain, Mahesh Soparkar, and Deviprasad Singh. Earlier this year, Sebi had rejected a settlement plea by the NSE in the co-location case. The co-location scam refers to some brokers gaining an unfair advantage by accessing the NSE’s systems, data, and trading facilities by allowing them to place their servers right in the NSE premises. The case came out in 2015 after three whistleblowers alerted Sebi. In 2019, Sebi passed an order directing the NSE to disgorge `625 crore plus interest, and also imposed a penalty of `1,000 crore on the exchange for not ensuring equitable access to the facility to all trading members. The Sebi order was later set aside by the Securities Appellate Tribunal, following which the regulator moved the Supreme Court. In 2023, the SC directed Sebi to refund `300 crore to NSE from `1,107 crore the exchange had deposited with it. Raghavulu leads the race to succeed Yechury express read S u l a g n a S e n g u p ta @ Kolkata While the earlier name had a colonial legacy, Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in India’s freedom struggle and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ unique role in it, the home minister said. The island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is now poised to be the critical base for India’s strategic and development aspirations, he added | P7 The demand for India’s basmati rice in the international market was quite high as competitor Pakistan was not able to produce enough aromatic rice due to weather vagaries in 2022 and 2023. But in the current rice producing year, Pakistan has regained its international basmati rice market causing major losses to Indian farmers and traders. Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, has appreciated the decision of PM Modi, hailing his sensitivity towards farmers. He shared his order copy on social media. In another notification, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade removed MEP condition on export of with immediate effect and until further orders. tion before the central committee on September 27. “Since the Party Congress is around the corner, a senior leader will be given temporary charge. The party set the age criteria to infuse new blood into the PB and CC,” said a senior leader. Going by the existing age cap of 75 years, PB members Prakash, Brinda, Manik Sarkar, Surjya Kanta Mishra, and Subhashini Ali are likely to give way for new faces at the Party Congress, which can give exemption to a leader if need be. “It would be wise to go with Brinda, as it would send out a message... The party needs a leader acceptable to other Opposition parties,” said a central committee member. The backing of the Kerala unit is crucial for a decision. spying Russia to expel six UK diplomats Russian authorities accused six British diplomats of spying and said they would be expelled, as tensions between Moscow and the West grow during a push by Ukraine to loosen curbs on using weapons given by the US & UK to strike Russia | P9 Traffic out of gear as heavy rains pound Delhi-NCR A man takes cover under a plastic sheet amid rain in New Delhi on Friday. | PTI Uj wa l Ja l a l i & I f r a h M u f t i @ New Delhi Commuters faced a hard time as rain lashed the national capital and its adjoining areas, causing severe water logging in several parts of the city, paralysing the normal life. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for the city and predicted that rain would continue to lash the national capital in the coming days. Weather officials said Delhi has so far received an annual rainfall of 1,005.7mm, the highest since 2021 when it recorded 1,526.8mm of rain. The all-time high was 1534.5mm in 1933. The Safdarjung meteorological station, which is representative of Delhi’s weather, recorded 25.8mm of rainfall between 8.30 pm on Thursday and 5:30 am on Friday The total rain re. corded at Safdarjung this month until 5:30 am on Friday was 123.6mm—slightly above the long-period monthly average for the month or 123.4mm. A senior Delhi Traffic Police officer told this newspaper that multiple calls about traffic congestion and waterlogging as well as potholes were received at the traffic control room. Traffic police personnel, wearing raincoats and gumboots were out at various intersections regulating the traffic even as the rains lashed the city . Multiple traffic advisories were issued by the police advising commuters to avoid certain stretches. The traffic remained affected on Ring Road, Vandematram Marg and NH-48 under Dhaula Kuan flyover, GTK Road, Anuvrat Marg, Ring Road in the carriageway from Majnu ka Tila towards ISBT Kashmere Gate among several other spots. The weather agency has forecast a generally cloudy sky with light to moderate rain during the day with the maximum , temperature likely to reach 30 degrees Celsius.