Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the State government to decide whether or not it wants to refer the matter of Maratha reservation to the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a bunch of petitions and public interest litigations on the 16% reservation for Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions.
In the last hearing, the State had filed an affidavit saying it had no objection if the data on record in court related to Maratha reservation was made available to the commission.
The affidavit read, “The Commission is fully staffed and has to take up its functions of considering and revising, if necessary, the various lists. For this purpose, it is the duty of the State government to provide assistance to the Commission including by providing the data in its possession and in future data as and when received. Undoubtedly the Commission conducts its own enquiry and is always assisted by the data which is available. As such the government has no objection if the data on the record of the HC is also made available to the Commission for assistance and further action. Collection of data and research on issues of demography and social structures is a continuous exercise and this has been ongoing even after the enactment of the Educationally and Socially backward Category Act, 2014.”
Hence, the court asked the State to make its stand clear, and if there was no objection, to make a representation before the Commission for Backward Classes. It then adjourned the matter to May 4.
The commission had not been functioning since March last year, since the term of its chairman, retired Justice R.H. Bhatia, ended. It was reconstituted on January 4, and is now being chaired by retired Justice Sambhajirao Mhase and has seven other members.
Demand rejected
The commission is recommendary in nature and suggests which communities can be regarded as backward classes. The last two commissions had rejected the demand of reservation for the Maratha community.
In December 2016, the State filed a 2,800-page affidavit in court justifying the demand for reservation the Maratha community as legal and well within the provisions of the Constitution.
