Mumbai Dec 27 PTI A 30-year-old man who was planning to commit suicide after losing his job in the COVID-19 pandemic was saved by personnel from Mumbai Crime Branchs cyber cell an official said The man had posted a suicide note on Monday afternoon and had tagged the police after which personnel engaged him in a conversation to buy time in order to track him and save him the official said The Virar-based man was depressed as his money had run out and he was struggling to pay rent and meet other expenses after losing his job at a car showroom in Andheri two months ago He had also used over Rs 37000 that belonged to a customer and had to be deposited in the companys account Your life is too precious Theres nothing that cannot be overcome We request you to stay calm lets meet discuss and resolve Remember you are priceless to your loved ones Please DM contact Lets talk Mumbai cops tweeted The man said he wanted to die as he was certain a cheque he had to given to his former employer would bounce which in turn would result in him getting booked or arrested the official said The official said his former employer was asked not take the matter forward which gave respite to the man PTI ZA BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Dec 27 PTI Maharashtra Congress president and MLA Nana Patole on Monday said election of the Legislative Assembly Speaker by a voice vote is not unconstitutional and accused the opposition BJP of obstructing the process by using the Governors officeThe post of Speaker is lying vacant since February this year after Patole who was elected to the constitutional position in end-2019 resigned to take charge as the state Congress chiefThe Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government has said a new Speaker will be elected on Tuesday the last day of the winter session of the state legislatureElection of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly will be held by a voice vote instead of through ballot and the government has planned to hold this election tomorrow Dec 28 itself Patole told reportersPatole was responding to a media query about a letter sent by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to the state government saying holding the election through a voice vote will be unconstitutionalThe Congress MLA said the legislature has powers to amend rules related to election of Speaker and they were amended accordingly in MaharashtraThere is a similar process in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra has adopted the same process of electing the Speaker by a voice vote he saidThe same tradition is followed in other states too Patole saidTherefore the decision taken by the legislature is not unconstitutional and a letter explaining the governments stand is being sent to the Governor he saidPatole alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party is pursuing a hidden agenda by dragging the Governors office into the issue of Speakers electionThe election process for the post of Assembly Speaker has been completed but the BJP is deliberately creating obstructions in the exercise he claimed PTI MR RSY RSY

Mumbai Dec 27 PTI Amid the surge in Omicron cases the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India HRAWI on Monday said it has issued an advisory to its members on strictly following guidelines notified by the Maharashtra government The advisory requests all FB food and beverages establishments to display prominently as per their licences or permissions the full capacity along with 50 per cent of that capacity HRAWI said in a statement For the enclosed spaces it said the total number of attendees at any time should not exceed 100 and for open to sky spaces 250 or 25 per cent of the capacity HRAWI President Sherry Bhatia said The Omicron threat is real and we must support the government in curbing its spread This is in the interest of not just the government but also to ensure that we do not go under another lockdown Bhatia added that the hospitality industry has been compliant with the governments guidelines all through the pandemic and even at this juncture it will be critical not to let the guard down even for a moment We request all our members that we commit to ensuring our own safety and thereby our guests for ushering in the New Year by not letting this virus win Bhatia said PTI SM HRS hrs

Mumbai Dec 27 PTI Mumbai on Monday reported 809 COVID-19 cases and three deaths taking the tally in the metropolis to 771921 and the toll to 16373 a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC official said The days addition was a fall from the 922 cases reported on Sunday he pointed out The recovery count increased to 748199 after 335 people were discharged during the day leaving Mumbai with 4765 active cases he said With 43383 samples being examined in the last 24 hours the number of tests in the countrys financial capital went up to 13492241 BMC data showed It also revealed that the caseload doubling time was 967 days the recovery rate stood at 97 per cent and the growth rate of cases between December 20 to 26 was 007 per cent PTI PR BNM BNM BNM

Mumbai Dec 27 PTI Rising for the eighth straight session the rupee on Monday pared initial losses to settle 3 paise higher at 75 provisional against the US dollar amid a firm trend in domestic equitiesAt the interbank forex market the local unit opened at 7515 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 7495 and a low of 7516It finally settled at 75 showing a gain of 3 paise against the previous closeTrading is likely to remain range-bound this week ahead of the year-end holidays forex traders saidMoreover a strong US dollar and firm crude oil prices restricted the rupee uptrendOn the domestic equity market front the BSE Sensex ended 29593 points or 052 per cent higher at 5742024 while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 8250 points or 049 per cent to 1708625Meanwhile the dollar index which measures the greenbacks strength against the basket of six currencies rose 021 per cent to 9621Brent crude futures the global oil benchmark fell 001 per cent to USD 7613 per barrelForeign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 715 crore as per exchange data PTI DRR DRR BAL BAL

Mumbai Dec 27 PTI The Maharashtra Legislature on Monday unanimously passed a resolution on the postponement of local body elections in the state in the absence of 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes OBCs Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar moved the resolution in the state Assembly that the upcoming local body elections be postponed until the OBC reservation is restored It was seconded by Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis The resolution was then unanimously passed by the Lower House Pawar said the representation to backward classes in local bodies is necessary Later Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif tabled the resolution in the Legislative Council after it was passed in the Assembly Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar sought the opinion of the Upper House over the resolution The Council members unanimously supported the resolution following which it was passed The Supreme Court on December 6 stayed till further orders the local body elections in Maharashtra on seats where there is reservation of up to 27 per cent for the OBCs The SC had made clear that the election process for the other seats would continue On December 15 the apex court directed the State Election Commission SEC of Maharashtra to notify 27 per cent seats in the local body which were reserved for the OBCs as general category so that the poll process could be taken forward In March this year the apex court had said the reservation in favour of OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra cannot exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes and the OBCs taken together It had referred to the triple condition noted in the Constitution bench verdict of 2010 including setting up a dedicated commission to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies within the state PTI MR ND GK GK

Mumbai Dec 27 PTI The Reserve Bank of India on Monday said that RBL Bank is well capitalised and its financial position remains satisfactory amid speculations relating to the private sector lender in certain quarters in wake of recent events surrounding the bank In a statement the Reserve Bank of India RBI also said there is no need for depositors and other stakeholders to react to speculative reports The banks financial health remains stable it said The statement from the RBI comes amid RBL Banks Vishawvir Ahuja stepping down as MD CEO of the bank and the lender appointing Rajeev Ahuja as the interim Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank with immediate effect The Reserve Bank of India has also appointed its Chief General Manager Yogesh K Dayal as an additional director on the board of RBL Bank The Reserve Bank would like to state that the bank is well capitalised and the financial position of the bank remains satisfactory As per half yearly audited results as on September 30 2021 the bank has maintained a comfortable Capital Adequacy Ratio of 1633 per cent and Provision Coverage Ratio of 766 per cent the central bank said It also said that the Liquidity Coverage Ratio LCR of the bank is 153 per cent as on December 24 2021 as against regulatory requirement of 100 per cent Further it is clarified that appointment of Additional Directors in private banks is undertaken under Section 36AB of the Banking Regulation Act 1949 as and when it is felt that the board needs closer support in regulatorysupervisory matters the RBI added PTI NKD DRR