1. Maharashtra Gets New Chief Electoral Officer
Senior bureaucrat Baldev Singh has been appointed the new chief electoral officer (CEO) of Maharashtra.
A 1989-batch officer, Singh succeeds Ashwani Kumar (1987 batch). His first assignment would be to conduct state polls that are due in October.
Singh was on central deputation as the development commissioner of the Santa Cruz Electronics Export Processing Zone, SEZ Mumbai, from July 2017, and has only recently been repatriated to the state cadre.
Source: The Indian Express
2. Mumbai University Vice Chancellor Orders Probe Into Detention Of Congress Leaders
A day after the Karnataka political crisis spilt on to the Mumbai University campus, the vice chancellor (VC) ordered an investigation to determine if permissions were given for the detention of Congress leaders at the Kalina rest house. On Thursday, representatives of several political outfits registered their protest at a meeting with the VC against the alleged detention of three MLAs inside the campus, which they claim was illegal. The VC categorically denied that any permission was issued by him or his office.
Source: The Hindu
3. Bombay High Court Dismisses MBBS Aspirants’ Petition Against Maratha Quota
The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by a group of students aspiring to enrol in the MBBS course, against the Maharashtra government’s decision to implement reservation for the Maratha community in admissions to medical colleges from this year.
The Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act of 2018 was amended to include a 16% reservation to the Maratha community, which has been the topic of multiple petitions by open category students.
Source: Hindustan Times
4. Kid Falls Into Drain, Locals Say BMC Ignored Complaints
A one-and-a-half-year-old boy, Divyansh Suraj Dhansi, fell into an overflowing open drain near Ambedkar Chowk in Goregaon (East) at 9.45pm on Wednesday. The rescue operations were on even more than 24 hours after the incident.
At the time of going to press on Thursday, the boy hadn’t been found.
According to police, Divyansh, who lived in a slum near the 2-ft-deep drain, stepped out to play after eating dinner, when his mother went to wash her hands.
Source: Hindustan Times
5. Scanty Rains In Mumbai For Rest Of The Week: IMD
After back-to-back days of heavy rain in the first week of July, Thursday saw the first significant drop in rainfall in Mumbai.
The Colaba and Santacruz stations of India Meteorological Department (IMD) recorded 0.2 mm and 0.6 mm rainfall between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm on Thursday. The skies remained largely overcast but the sharp fall in precipitation led to a slight increase in temperatures, with the maximum temperature rising to 30.6 degrees Celsius in Colaba and relative humidity at 88 per cent.
Source: The Indian Express
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