DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 GOVT & POLITICS CJI-LED BENCH SAYS WILL PASS INTERIM ORDER TODAY NATIONAL HERALD CASE: CONGRESS, BJP TRADE BARBS THE PATH FOR DEFEATING BJP, RSS GOES THROUGH GUJARAT: RAHUL P 6 Waqf-by-user, non-Muslims on Waqf boards, Collector powers up for review Justice Gavai is the second most senior Judge in SC EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, APRIL 16 CHIEF JUSTICE of India Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday recommended Justice B R Gavai, the second most senior Judge in the Supreme Court, as his successor. CJI Khanna, who is set to retire on May 13, sent his recommendation to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice. On confirmation, Justice GavaiwillbethesecondCJIfrom theScheduledCastecommunity, afterformerCJIKGBalakrishnan. Asthe52ndChief Justiceof India, JusticeGavaiwillhaveatenureof oversixmonths—heisduetoretire on November 23, 2025. The retirement age of Supreme Court Judges is 65 years. Justice Gavai was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019. He has been a part of several Constitution benches in the apex court which delivered landmark rulings. He was part of a five-judge Constitution bench which, in December 2023, unanimously upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 bestowing special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Another five-judge Constitution bench, of which JusticeGavaiwasapart,annulled the electoral bonds scheme for politicalfunding.Hewasalsopart ofafive-judgeConstitutionbench which, by a 4:1 majority verdict, gave its stamp of approval to the Centre's2016decisiontodemonetiseRs1,000andRs500denomination currency notes. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, APRIL 16 THE SUPREME Court on Wednesday indicated it is considering staying the operation of certain parts of the contentious Waqf Act, 2025, which include the concept of ‘waqf-by-user’, representation of non-Muslims on waqf boards, and the powers of the Collector to change the status of disputed waqf land. “We do not stay a legislation normallyatthisstageof thechallenge unless in exceptional circumstances. This appears to be anexception.Ourconcernisthat if waqf-by-user is de-notified, there could be huge consequences,” Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna said in an oral observation. The bench also comprised Justices P V Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan. The 2025 waqf law does away with the concept of waqfby-user for future transactions from the date of coming into force of the amendments, and saysitwilloperateforpasttransactionsonlyif suchwaqf created inthepastisregisteredandisnot in dispute and does not relate to US V-P Vance in India next week: PM meeting, visits to Jaipur and Agra Tariffs,tradepacttalksexpectedtobe discussedduringdinnermeetwithPM BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, APRIL 16 Outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Tashi Tobgyal property which is government owned. Waqf-by-userislandusedfor Muslim religious or charitable purposes for a long period of time.Suchlandisdeemedtobea waqf evenif itwasnotregistered as such. The petitioners have argued this law could potentially raise questions on the status of several such waqf properties. “As far as waqf-by-user is concerned, it will be very difficult to register. So, there is ambiguity there. You may argue that waqf-by-user is also being CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CJI strikes balance, pushes Govt for answers, draws lines for petitioners APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, APRIL 16 AS HE winds down his sixmonth tenure, Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, hearing the contentious challenge to the validity of the Waqf Act, 2025, struck a balance: pushing the Centre to address some key questions even as he drew a line for the petitioners. “There are some good aspectstoo,whichneither side is mentioning,” Justice Khanna observed attheendofthetwo-hour hearing. The CJI asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to name one instance where the Parliament had allowed interfaithmembersinboardsdealing with religious affairs of another community. When Mehta said, “Take itfromme.Idon’twantto ● name but take it from me thattherearesuchcases,” the bench of CJI Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V E EXPLAINED Justice Gavai set to be next Chief Justice of India SCflags3aspectsofWaqflaw:‘Wedo notnormallystay...thisanexception’ INDIA, ITALY VISIT FROM APRIL 18 TO 24 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 USVICEPresidentJDVance,who is going to be in India next week, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi over dinner on April 21. Thatistheonlyconfirmedofficialprogrammesofar,asVance — accompanied by wife Usha Vance, who is of Indian-origin, and their children — will continuewithprivateengagements, including a wedding in Jaipur, according to sources. During their four-day official visit starting from April 21, they will also go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, sources said. Announcing the visit, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday: “Vice President J D Vance and the Second Family will travel to Italy and India from April18to24.TheVPwilldiscuss shared economic and geopoliticalprioritieswithleadersineach country... In India, the Vice President will visit New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. The Vice President will hold meetings PM’s visit to J&K to flag off Vande Bharat Express postponed ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, APRIL 16 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi’sscheduledvisittoJammu andKashmirtoflagoff theVande Bharat Express from Katra to Srinagar on April 19 has been postponed. Sources said the visit was postponedamidaforecastof adverse weather conditions during the period. The India Meteorological Department office in Srinagar has forecast rain across Jammu and Kashmir from April 18,withthemostsignificantimpact expected on April 18 and 19. Union Minister of State for the Prime Minister’s Office JitendraSinghhasconfirmedthe postponement of the PM’s visit. A senior official of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW YORK, APRIL 16 BREAKTHROUGH AT SILKYARA ■ Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami at a ceremony to mark the breakthrough — meeting of the two ends — of the 4.531-km Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi, Wednesday. A COMPLEX WEB NEW DELHI, APRIL 16 A LUXURY apartment in Gurgaon’s ultra-exclusive The Camellias — overlooking an expansive golf course — for Rs 43 crore; a premium TaylorMade golf set for Rs 26 lakh; transfers of over Rs 11 crore to their mother and spouses. And, hundreds of kilometres away, a mostly deserted manufacturing plant that was supposed to produce tens of thousands of elec- ■ The milestone comes more than a year after a portion of the tunnel collapsed in November 2023, trapping 41 workers for 17 days before they were rescued. PTI REPORT,P7 PAGE 1 ANCHOR HIMANSHU HARSH GEL TRUST AND RETENTION ACCOUNT IREDA LIMITED Gensol received disbursement from IREDA and Promoter Margin Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi. LinkedIn tric vehicles (EVs). These are among the revelations made by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 YOSHITA SINGH Luxury apartment to crores for family: How Bihar gang lured businessmen from 3 states — until abduction went too far BluSmart promoters ‘diverted’ loan funds AGGAM WALIA & SOUMYARENDRA BARIK with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Vice President and Second Family will also participate in engagements at cultural sites.” This will be Vance’s first visit to India — and Asia — since assuming office. The overall IndiaUS bilateral relationship, issue of tariffs,andnegotiationsonthebilateral trade agreement are expectedtocomeupfordiscussions during his meeting with Modi. Confirming Vance's meeting with Modi on April 21, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)saidheandhisdelegation “will have other engagements in Amid Trump’s crackdown, US judge stops deportation of Indian student Nextdateof inauguration likelyonly afterApril25 Ministry of Railways said the inauguration is now likely to take place only after April 25. “The PrimeMinister’sprogrammehas been postponed because of inclement weather. According to information received so far, the next date of inauguration can be only after April 25 as the PM’s schedule is packed till then. However, the Ministry of Railwaysisfullypreparedforthe programmeonanydatedecided by the Prime Minister's Office,” said the official. The US Vice President will be accompanied by wife Usha Vance, their children `93.88 cr 03/10/2022 GO AUTO PRIVATE LIMITED `50 cr 03/10/2022 CAPBRIDGE VENTURES LLP (Enterprise significantly influenced by Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi) `42.94 cr 06/10/2022 DLF LIMITED PATNA, APRIL 16 ON APRIL 11, Laxman Sadhu Shinde, a 55-year-old businessman from Pune, stepped off a flight at Patna airport. Shinde, whoownedametalcastingunit, had received an email purportedly from Coal India, offering machinery and scrap at bargain prices for his company in Pune’s Khedshivapur. Lured by the promise of a lucrative deal, he came to Bihar’s capital — only to fall victim to a Express Gang promised the victims cheap materials: Patna SSP trap that would prove fatal. The next morning, his body was discovered on a roadside under the Ghosi police station limits in Jehanabad. It was eventually identified on April 14. “Shinde’s family told the police he was unreachable after landing in Patna on April 11, and registered a case at Patna airport police station on April 13,” Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Awakash Kumar said. “He boarded a flight from Pune to Patna at 5 pm on April 11,” states the FIR filed by his brother-in-law, Vishal Lavaji Lokhande. At 7:30 pm, he called his wife, informing her that one CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AUSfederaljudgehastemporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a 21year-old undergraduate Indian whose student visa was cancelled. Krish Lal Isserdasani has been pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in computer engineering at the University of WisconsinMadison with an F-1 student visa since 2021. Court documents, as seen by PTI,saidthat“havingmaintained full-time enrollment and good academic standing, Isserdasani isnowinthefinalsemesterof his senior year with less than 30 days remaining until an expected graduation on May 10, 2025.” The documents filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin said Tuesday that Isserdasani “acknowledges that he was arrested on November 22, 2024, after he and his friends got into a verbal argument with another group while walking home late at night from a bar. “Although Isserdasani was arrested for disorderly conduct, the District Attorney declined to pursue charges after reviewing the case. As a result, Isserdasani never had to appear in court and believed the matter was completely resolved with no possibleimmigration consequences,” the court documents said, adding that aside from this CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Odisha to Maharashtra, via Lanka: 4,500-km journey of Turtle 03233 NAYONIKA BOSE & SUJIT BISOYI MUMBAI, BHUBANESWAR, APRIL 16 EARLIER THIS year, volunteers of the Maharashtra forest departmentfoundasolitaryturtlenestingatRatnagiri’sGuhagarbeach. On closer examination, they found two glistening metal tags, one on each of its front flippers. Almost immediately, the Olive Ridley turtle had an identity — 03233 — and a back story. Theturtle,researchersfound, had made a long, arduous journey of nearly 4,500 km — start- ing from Gahirmatha in Odisha, down the east coast, possibly taking a bend around Sri Lanka, going up to Jaffna in the north, turning around and travelling down to Thiruvananthapuram before powering further up along the west coast and finally reaching the shores of Ratnagiri. Here, on the white sand beach of Guhagar, the turtlesettled down tonest,laying125eggs,of which at least 107 have since hatched. The flipper tags, bearing the number03233,revealedthatthe turtle had been tagged by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) on March 18, 2021, at Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Wildlife Sanctuary. The turtle was one of 12,000 Olive Ridleys that got the tags clipped on to their flippers (the four flattened limbs that help turtles swim and which they use during mating and nesting) that year to help researchers track their migration patterns and areas of foraging. According to the researchers, this is the first such migratory feat recorded among Olive Ridley turtles, which are known to be excellent navigators. Dr Suresh Kumar, senior scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, who has studied the movements and migration of Olive Ridley turtles RECORDING A MIGRATORY FEAT Odisha’s Gahirmatha Mumbai Ratnagiri’s Guhagar beach Route taken by the Olive Ridley turtle Jaffna SRI LANKA At Guhagar beach, the turtle laid 125 eggs, of which 107 hatched as part of his doctoral research, says the turtle's journey took him by surprise. “I never imagined that the turtle could come all the way from the east coast to the west coast. While it may not be a rare occurrence, this is perhaps the first recorded instance of a turtle tagged on the eastern coast being discovered on the west coast. We never knew that such a migration was possible among the species.” DrKumarsaysthatwhilescientists“stronglybelieve”theturtle took the 4,500-km route aroundSriLanka,aknownforaging ground for Olive Ridley turtles, “it's possible that it took an alternative,shorterroutethrough the Pamban corridor” that links the island of Rameswaram to mainland Tamil Nadu. ZSI’s Dr Basudev Tripathy, who tagged Turtle 03233, says that its discovery on the shores of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra throws new light on the nesting patterns of Olive Ridleys. The turtles are known to exhibit a uniquesynchronisedmassnesting behaviour called arribada, as part of which thousands of female turtles converge on beaches, mostly on the Odisha coast, to lay eggs. Tripathy says that the research so far had suggested that Olive Ridleys would come to the coastsof OdishafromEasternSri Lanka, stay six months, and return after the mass nesting. “That this particular turtle nestedonRatnagiri’sshoressuggests that all Olive Ridleys don’t come to Odisha or the eastern coast for mass nesting and that sometraveltowardsthewestern coasts for nesting. This implies that we need to not only protect the east coasts (for the turtles) butalsothewestcoasts,”hesays, adding, “We can’t draw any conclusionsbasedonthemovement of one turtle. To confirm if its journey was accidental or CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow