fridAY 19 december, 2025 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard SC to eci: consider Kerala, up plea on SIR deadline extension third term Oli re-elected as CPN-UML chairman Supreme Court on Thursday asked Election Commission to consider representations seeking extension of time for SIR in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala Ousted Nepal PM K P Sharma Oli was on Thursday elected as the CPN-UML’s chairman for the third consecutive term with a two-thirds majority. Lawyers question hurry in wrapping up SIR A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 k e y ta k e a w ay s 99% of Indian exports (by value) will enter Oman without any tariffs 1 Agriculture, dairy, tea, coffee, jewellery, footwear sectors are excluded from the deal 2 Full tariff cuts for textiles, gems, leather, pharma, autos amid US tariff pressures 3 2024-25 trade with Oman: India exported goods worth $4.06bn; imported $6.5bn 4 Another FTA in bag with duty-free Oman access to 99% exports P u s h p i ta D e y @ New Delhi AT a time when the country is diversifying its export market amid steep, unilateral trade tariffs levied by the US, India and Oman on Thursday signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) under which 99% of Indian exports, by value, will have duty-free access to the Omani market. In return, India will offer duty-free access to 78% of goods imported from Oman. In value terms, 95% of Oman’s exports will have free access to the Indian market. However, India ensured that sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy products are outside the trade deal’s ambit. The commerce ministry clarified that all major labour-intensive sectors — including gems and jewellery , textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and automobiles — will receive full tariff elimination. For products of export interest to Oman that are sensitive for India, the concessions are largely in the form of tariff-rate quota (TRQ)-based liberalisation. The trade agreement is expected to provide respite to labour-intensive sectors affected by US tariffs. The pact was signed in Muscat by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Oman’s Minister of Com- PM Narendra Modi being conferred the Order of Oman by Sultan Haitham bin Tarik | PTI merce, Industry and Investment Promotion, Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For the first time, Oman raised the quota for intra-corporate transferees to 50% from 20% and extended the stay for contractual service suppliers to two years, with a possible two-year extension. The pact also eases entry for skilled professionals. The deal allows 100% FDI by Indian firms in service sectors in Oman. Additional pacts cover maritime heritage, agriculture, higher education, and industry ties between Oman Chamber of Commerce and CII. express read Church set on fire, 2 groups clash over burial in C’garh A church was set on fire, the buried body exhumed, over a dozen injured in clashes between two groups in Kanker district in Chhattisgarh. Tension erupted after a sarpanch, who had allegedly converted to Christianity, had buried the body of his father in the village, leading to protest. aussie Premier vows hate speech crackdown after Bondi attack Creator of Statue of Unity Ram Sutar passes away Renowned sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar, best known for designing the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, passed away at his Noida residence late Wednesday night. He was 100. Mourning Sutar’s death, PM Modi said his works were powerful expression of India’s history, culture, and collective spirit. P8 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed on Thursday to stamp out extremism as the nation mourned the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach shooting, a 10-year-old girl remembered as “our little ray of sunshine”. | P9 l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 Torn papers fly as Parliament approves the G-Ram-G bill replacing the Mahatma P r e e t h a Na i r a n d Par v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi Parliament on Thursday passed the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill amid chaotic scenes in the Lok Sabha, with the Opposition raising slogans, tearing copies of the legislation, and standing on tables while holding posters of Mahatma Gandhi aloft, despite repeated appeals for order by Speaker Om Birla. The Rajya Sabha subsequently burnt the midnight oil to pass the bill after a five-hour debate. The VB G-Ram-G Bill that replaces the two-decade-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee guarantees 125 days of employment for rural households in a financial year, with the government earmarking `95,000 crore for the initiative. A major shift under the new framework is a revised fundsharing pattern, under which states will have to bear 40% share of the scheme’s financial responsibility . Moving the bill for passage after a nearly eight-hour-long debate, Union Minister for Rural Development The NREGA mandates spending of 60% funds on labour and 40% on material. But only 26% was spent on material and funds were siphoned off — Shivraj Singh Chouhan Absentee members Torn papers sail past minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Lok Sabha on Thursday | PTI Several amendments moved by Oppn members were not taken up for voting as they were absent. Amid uproar, LS and RS passed the bill by voice vote Shivraj Singh Chouhan mounted a strong defence of the government’s move, insisting that the legislation did not dilute Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals but, instead, sought to strengthen them. As Opposition MPs trooped to the well of the House, raising slogans against the government for dropping Gandhi ji’s name from the rural jobs initiative and tearing copies of the bill and flinging it towards the chair, Chouhan hit out at the Congress for “insulting” the Mahatma elections,” he said. Chouhan argued that the existing framework of MGNREGA had serious structural flaws, particularly in the allocation of funds among states. In the Rajya Sabha, Digvijaya Singh (Cong) raised a point of order saying the bill was made available on the members’ portal late in the evening and sufficient time was not given to submit amendments. Tiruchi Siva (DMK) too sought more time to file amendments. But the request was rejected. Over 3,700 vehicles fined A d i t i R ay C h o w d h u r y @ New Delhi Authorities at fuel stations and border check posts have stepped up enforcement a day after the Supreme Court tightened restrictions on vehicles with engines below BS-IV standards, and the Delhi government directed petrol pumps to refuse fuel to cars without a valid pollution under control (PUC) certificate. On Wednesday, the SC had ruled that only vehicles with BS-IV engines and above will be exempt from action amid worsening air pollution. The government announced that from Thursday, no non-BS VI private vehicle registered outside Delhi would be allowed into the city , and cars without a valid PUC certificate would be denied fuel. At the Delhi-Noida and Ghazipur borders, officials said challans ranging from `10,000 to `20,000 are being issued to vehicles without a valid PUC. Cars entering Delhi from Noida or other neighbouring areas that are found to be below BS-IV or BS-VI standards are being turned back. “We are checking the PUC certificates, especially in the case of older model cars and are imposing necessary fines on them,” a traffic official at the Delhi-Noida border said. Since the ban came into effect, “we have found very few such vehicles crossing the border area today ,” A CNG pump staff checks PUC certificate of a vehicle in Vinod Nagar before allowing it to be filled | Parveen Negi At Delhi-Noida and Ghazipur borders, officials said challans ranging from `10,000 to `20,000 were issued to vehicles without a valid PUC certificate. Cars below BS-IV or BS-VI standards were denied entry to Delhi. Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said more than 3,700 vehicles were challaned, while nearly 570 noncompliant or non-destined vehicles were turned back from Delhi’s borders in 24 hours. The action coincided with a surge in demand for PUC certificates, with more than 61,000 certificates issued between Dec 17 and Dec 18. a traffic police official at the Ghazipur border added. Yet, enforcement continued in real time. While the official spoke, a BS IV vehicle was stopped, and a challan was issued. Fuel stations across the city saw heightened checking. The surge in inspections caused queues to form at on-site pollution check centres. At an HP fuel station in East Delhi, employees said, “We are asking for pollution certificates before giving fuel, but… we first start providing the fuel and then ask for the certificate. In case they do not have the certificate, we are asking them to get it done in the pollution centre beside our station.” This loophole allowed some drivers to refuel before being sent to get a PUC. After heightened vigilance, one car was stopped and asked to p re s e n t a c e r t i f i c at e b e fo re refuelling. Delhi Transport Corporation employees stationed at a petrol pump in Ghazipur (NH24 IFC) reported facing resistance from vehicle owners while checking PUCs. A DTC employee said, “We must be provided with an authorisation letter from the transport department regarding this and also a pollution check machine to carry out the work.” THE Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a PIL seeking enforcement of global standards for packaged drinking water, terming it as a fit case of ‘luxury litigation’ in a country where a large populace lacks access to basic drinking water. “Where is the drinking water in this country, madam? People do not have drinking water; the quality of bottled water will come later on,” Chief Justice Surya Kant, who was sitting with Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said, adding that these are ‘luxury litigations’. The bench was hearing a PIL filed by on Section 18 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which mandates adherence to prescribed safety norms, the counsel said citizens were entitled to clean and safe packaged drinking water, and that statutory obligations could not be diluted. Suggesting to the petitioner to spare some time for Indias to grow further, the bench said, “Let us face the ground realities of the country Nobody takes . up the cause of the poor. All this is urbanised phobia.” The court also advised her to travel across the country and see the reality . “Mahatma Gandhi, when he returned from South Africa, travelled across rural areas to understand the plight of the people,” the CJI said. The bench, however, allowed withdrawal of the PIL with liberty to approach the FSSAI and competent authorities to seek redrssal. ‘Right to dignity prevails over press freedom’ u daya n k i s h o r e @ New Delhi The Delhi High Court held on Thursday that an individual’s right to dignity and reputation overrides the freedom of press. Justice C Sudha made the observation while upholding a trial court’s decision to restrain the circulation of news articles on a banker’s arrest in a money laundering case from which he had been discharged. “While the media enjoys the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, such right is not absolute and stands correspondingly delimited by the right of an individual to dignity and reputation traceable to Article 21 of the Constitution. It has been observed that in appropriate cases, particularly where continued dissemination of content results in disproportionate harm to an individual, the right under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution must yield to the right under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the court said. The banker was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2023 in connection with alleged irregularities relating to Moser Baer India Limited. He was discharged from the case on August 17, 2024. The articles mentioning his arrest continued to remain accessible on digital platforms and search engines. toll plaza shift idea has mcd worrying Plea on enhancing quality of packaged drinking water: Luxury litigation, says SC Sarang Vaman Yadwadkar, who sought directives to improve and align Indian standards for packaged drinking water with global benchmarks. At the outset, the CJI questioned the very premise of the petition, observing that the court could not lose sight of broader realities faced by the country . “Do you think we can implement standards followed by the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Australia? This is an urbancentric approach; people in rural areas drink groundwater, and nothing happens to them,” the bench said. Senior advocate Anita Shenoy, counsel for petitioner, said the issue concerned public health and consumer safety Relying . and “killing” his ideals time and again. Congress members Shafi Parambil, Dean Kuriakose and Hibi Eden stood on the table and others resorted to sloganeering in the well of the House. Rejecting the charge that the Centre was deliberately removing Gandhi’s name from the law, the minister alleged that the Congress had attached his name to the scheme for political reasons. “The name of Mahatma Gandhi was added in 2009 with an eye on Rush at PUC centres amid strict vigil and challans after restrictions kick in ‘urban phobia’ s u c h i t ra k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was told by senior lawyer Kapil Sibal that 25 lakh names were deleted in electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh alone. SIR deadline in UP was Dec 3 and in Kerala was Dec 18. Another lawyer questioned the hurry and said assembly polls in UP were due in 2027 and yet EC was not giving time. A d i t i R ay C h o w d h u r y @ New Delhi ‘Is temporarily shutting the plazas practical?’ Ground checks by this newspaper indicated that these toll plazas in border areas are mostly preceded by police check posts, which are already conducting necessary checks on pollution-causing vehicles. Those entering Delhi from NCR towns are being sent back if found below the prescribed emission categories. Under such circumstances, the question is: is temporarily shutting the plazas practical? Questions linger over the feasibility of the Supreme Court’s suggestion to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to consider shutting the toll plazas during the peak pollution period to reduce vehicular congestion and increased emissions. On Wednesday during , a hearing on air pollution, the court directed the MCD to decide within one week whether the nine toll plazas it operates could be temporarily shut. A three-judge bench headed by CJI Surya Kant also asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to consider moving these nine toll plazas at entry points to Delhi to locations that the NHAI can oversee. The SC also stated that a portion of the toll collected can be given to the MCD to compensate for the ex- pected loss during the three-month period when the nine toll booths are sought to be closed. However, a standing committee member of the MCD said, “This can be a tough decision as a major chunk of the corporation’s finances comes from the toll plaza collections and even the salaries of the employees are dependent on these finances.” An official aware of the matter added, “The corporation has not yet decided on the matter and will possibly move ahead within the next few days.” The official admitted that relocating the toll plazas would put the MCD in a financial tight spot. “When there’s a financial crunch in an organisation, certain problems do follow; thereby if any such , restrictions come through, the finances of the corporation might have to suffer,” he said.