An advocate opposing the State’s 16% reservation quota for Marathas in educational institutions and government jobs, questioned the parameters of the survey conducted to assess the need for a quota and said the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (SBCC) report is not credible.
Senior counsel Pradeep Sancheti’s arguments on the issue were heard by a division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. Appearing for one of the petitioners against the move, Sanjeet Shukla, the advocate said the SBCC report has not followed the parameters used by the National Commission for Backward Classes, the Mandal Commission or the Bapat Commission.
He questioned the statistics in the report and said the calculations are flawed. Parameters like the number of kuccha houses for or no individual toilets, cannot be a yardstick for economic backwardness as they highlight social backwardness, he stressed. Questioning the framing of questions in the survey, Mr Sancheti said the data is arbitrary and mathematically irreconcilable, and concluded his arguments for the day by saying Maharashtra is one of the country’s most educated States.
Meanwhile, Haribhai Rathod, former member of Parliament and current member of the legislative council, also filed an intervention application against the reservations.
The State government is likely to commence its arguments next week.
