DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `7.00 (`8 RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM CBC 15502/13/0015/2526 SINCE 1932 INTERIM ORDER BY CJI GAVAI AND JUSTICE MASIH No stay on waqf law but SC puts in guardrails: Limits DC’s powers, caps non-Muslim presence ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 15 UNDERLINING THAT it is not inclined to stay the entire law, the SupremeCourt,inaninterim order Monday, limited the contentious powers the new law granted to the District Collector in determining the status of a waqf property and also capped the non-Muslim representation in Waqf Boards, two key issues flagged by several parties and groups that have opposed the law and had sought a stay on it. However, it upheld the deletionof “waqf byuser”sayingthat if the legislature finds examples of its misuse, it is justified in deleting that provision. A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice AugustineMasihsaidthattheorder is “to protect the interest of allthepartiesandbalancetheequities.” The limited stay on these selectprovisionswillbeuntilthe SC can make a final determination on the constitutionality of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D Upholds deletion of ‘waqf by user,’ says not arbitrary if legislature finds misuse Balancing ● act COURTS HAVE been cautious while passing interim orders to stay laws passed by the Legislature. A law made by Parliament carries a presumption of constitutionality unless a court strikes it down. While SC refused to stay the Waqf Act, it stayed certain provisions “to protect interest of all parties and balance equities during pendency”. Clauses put on hold: How Opposition had flagged them in House debate MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 15 AS THE Supreme Court Monday frozetheimplementationof certain crucial provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, while declining to stay the Act in its entirety, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju welcomed the interim order, and Shah had led Govt charge to defend changes to the Act called it a good sign for Parliamentary democracy. On the clauses that were CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE WELCOME PAUSE SC’s interim ruling on waqf checks executive’s sweeping powers on Muslim charitable bodies, affirms due processes PAGE10 BOTH GOVT AND OPP SEE WIN IN TOP COURT ORDER PAGE7 EXPLAINED: SC’s WAQF ORDER PAGE13 VALIDATION A RELIEF, ALLOWS OUR WORK TO SPEAK FOR ITSELF: VANTARA Clean chit for Vantara: Apex court says SIT ‘exhaustive’ probe found no violation in law... complaints closed NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 15 THREE WEEKS after it set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations against Vantara — Reliance Foundation's wildliferescueandrehabilitation centre in Gujarat’s Jamnagar — the Supreme Court on Monday saidtheSIT's“exhaustiveinvestigation”hadfound“nocontraventioninlaw”.Sayingthatithad“no hesitation”inacceptingthisconclusion, the court closed the suo motu proceedings in the matter. The bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and P B Varale also said that to “secure finality”, no judicial, statutory or administrative WHAT SC SAID ■ SIT covered entire range of allegations — acquisition of animals, smuggling, laundering, conservation & breeding, financial & trade improprieties ■ It found facilities at Vantara exceed prescribed benchmark, mortality figures align with global zoological averages ■ Receipt of animals gone through multi-layered/ multi-jurisdictional statutory approvals forum shall entertain “any further complaint or proceedings based on the same set of allegations”. It said the SIT “found that theVantara facilities exceed prescribed benchmark and the mortality figures align with the global zoological averages.” Welcoming the court's decision, a statement issued by Vantara said: “The SIT’s report and the Supreme Court’s order havemadeitclearthatthedoubts and allegations raised against Vantara’sanimalwelfaremission werewithoutanybasis.Thevalidation of the truth by the distinguished and widely respected members of the SIT is not just a relief for everyone atVantara but CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 CommerceSecysays‘positiveframeof mind’overtradetalksinbothcountries RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 15 THE US trade team led by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch was scheduled to land in New Delhi late Monday evening, and is set to engagewithcommerceministry officials on Tuesday. In what will be the first inperson talks between the two countries after the high stakes negotiations for a trade deal broke down, officials in New Delhi said the US team is likely to be here for only a day. The talks between India and the US hit a pause after the US imposed an additional 25% tariffs effective August 27 on New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil, in addition to the 25% reciprocal tariffs that became effective earlier on August 7. NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 15 IN JUST three years, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has issued as many as 84 Quality Control Orders (QCOs) based on therecommendationsof various ministries and departments, which is almost 45% of all 187 QCOs administered by it. These 84 QCOs cover 343 products. QCOs are legal orders issued by departments or ministries SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, SEPTEMBER 15 PM AT COMMANDERS’ MEET Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan (centre) during the Combined Commanders’ Conference in Kolkata, Monday. The PM was briefed on operational readiness in the context of the ‘new normal’ post-Operation Sindoor. ANI REPORT,PAGE12 PAGE 1 ANCHOR CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 BHOPAL, SEPTEMBER 15 FOREST OFFICIALS at Panna TigerReserveinMadhyaPradesh have sought a clarification from an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and his wife, who is posted at the Supreme Court, after it was alleged that they had built a hotel/resort in an ecosensitive zone, The Indian Express has learnt. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 “India and the US have been engaged in talks at various levels, and the US trade team led by their chief negotiator is reaching India tonight, and we will be holding talks tomorrow to see what the future of talks will be,” India’s chief negotiator and Special Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Rajesh Agarwal, told reporters. This comes after the trade ties between the two countries soured over what India said were “non-trade issues”. Officials had earlier said India andtheUS were at astrikingdistanceof atradedeal,butafterthe CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Tariff impact: Andhra pegs its shrimp export losses at `25,000 crore US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s tariffs are estimated to have cost Andhra Pradesh approximately Rs 25,000 crore in shrimp exports, with government officials saying that about 50 per cent orders were cancelled. With nearly Rs 600 crore in tariff burden now falling on about 2,000 containers, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu POST-RETIREMENT HOME, NO COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY: COUPLE EXPERTS RAISE RED FLAGS Nearly 45% of Quality Control Orders issued in IRS officer, wife posted at SC told to Post-Dharali, Centre to 3 years, MSMEs complain explain ‘hotel’ on their land in Panna re-examine safety of Uttarkashi-Gangotri road HARIKISHAN SHARMA ANAND MOHAN J under the BIS Act, which make it mandatoryfordomesticandimported products, to conform with certain quality standards. The products cannot be sold unless they get a certification from the BIS. Butoverthelasttwoyears,micro, small and medium enterprises have complained to the government that the QCOs are akin to non-tariff barriers, and haveraisedcostofinputsforthem. Infact,NITIAayogViceChairman Brendan Lynch leads US team 50% ORDERS CANCELLED 3 weeks after it set up SIT, SC says: No judicial, statutory forum shall entertain complaints based on same charges EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE First after Trump imposed 50% tariff, US negotiator in Delhi for trade talks NIKHIL GHANEKAR NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 15 MP forestdepartmentofficialsseizeasawmachine fromthe premisesof whattheyallegeisahotel/resort. ACTING ON a letter sent by two experts—acurrentandaformer memberof aSupremeCourt-appointed committee — the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is learnt to have directed implementing agencies to re-examine the safety of certain stretches of the under-construction UttarkashiGangotri road, under the Char Dham highway project in Uttarakhand. TheletterwassentonAugust 12, a week after flash floods and landslides destroyed Dharali village near Harsil, on the Gangotri highway in Uttarkashi district. The experts, geologist Navin Juyal and social expert and environmentalist Hemant Dhyani, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 hassoughttheCentre’sintervention to alleviate the distress that the export crisis has caused in the state. US tariffs touched 59.72 per cent after Trump announced 25 percentadditionaltariffsoverand abovethe25percentannounced earlier,aswellasthe5.76percent countervailing duty and 3.96 per cent anti-dumping duty. In separate letters to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY TWO INDIAN ENTRIES WIN AT TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL PAGE 12 Driving along NH-02: Buffer zones, Manipur’s long road to peace SUKRITA BARUAH IMPHAL, SEPTEMBER 15 NATIONAL HIGHWAY-02, often dubbed as Manipur’s lifeline, passes through the everyday chaos of the town market in ImphalWest’sKanglatongbi.The flowof vehicleshereisslowedby anImphalWestpolicebarricade, next to which is a check-post manned by personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Looking at the vehicles driving past, a policeman at the check-post says his job is to look for anyone who “looks like him (a Meitei)”, and stop them for identification. Meiteis are not allowed to travel beyond this point on the highway in Manipur, where the divide between the state’s Meitei andKuki-Zocommunitiescontinues to run as deep as ever, 27 months into the conflict, which brokeoutinthestateinMay2023. “Forget civilians, even police personnel from the Meitei community are not supposed to go beyond this,” he says. Overtwoyearssincethestart of ethnic tensions in the state, the absence of “free movement” of people, including along the state’s highways, remains one of the most significant fallouts of the divide in the state. Immediately after Imphal West, which is located in the state’s Meitei-majority valley, NH-02 enters the Kuki-Zo-majority Kangpokpi district. At check-pointsoneitherendof the “buffer zone” (areas manned by security personnelbetween settlements of both communities, where the movement of people is not allowed), security personnel ensure that Meiteis and Kukis don’t cross over from their respective settlements. NH-02 — which connects the capital Imphal to Dimapur in Nagaland, and further to Assam Goods trucks cross the Kangpokpi check-point in Imphal West district of Manipur. Sukrita Baruah — is one of the major routes through which goods enter Manipur.Whiletrucks,andpetrol and LPG tankers breeze through these posts and the highway uninterrupted, every passing car is subject to inspection. Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Manipur—hisfirstsinceviolence broke out in the state — the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a statement that the Kuki-ZoCouncilhad“decided”to “open NH-02 for the free movement of commuters and essential goods”. But the Kuki-Zo Council had denied this claim, sayingitwasimpossibleforthem to “re-open” the highway when theyhadn’t“closed”itinthefirst place and that essential goods had been passing through the highway without impediment. On Monday, the Kuki-Zo Councilissuedan “urgentclarification to the Meitei public” on the MHA’s announcement, “warning” them that the “buffer zone is to be respected at all costs”. It said, “Any violation will only lead to serious consequences and further deterioration of peace and security.” Beyond the check-post in Imphal West’s Kanglatongbi is a stretch of around half-a-kilometre of homes belonging to Gorkha families. At the end of this is an arched gate that welcomes visitors to the Kuki-Zomajority Kangpokpi district. Justbelowthisarchisthemain check-post. Though manned by theManipurPoliceandCRPFpersonnel like the previous one in ImphalWest,thereisacriticaldifference: the police here are from the Kuki-Zo community. ACRPFjawanstationedthere says, “Ourjobhere is straightforward. We ensure that no Kukis or Meiteis cross over from this point.Weassistthepoliceincase of trouble, but they are responsible for identifying people from CONTINUED ON PAGE 2