Ahead of a fresh round of agitation threatened by the Maratha Kranti Morcha from November 25 to press for reservations for their community, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday indicated that his Government would come out with a formal announcement about reservations to Marathas in Government jobs and education on December 1.
“We have received a report from the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) on the socio-economic status of the Marathas. I request all of you to prepare yourselves for celebrations on December 1,” Fadnavis said, while addressing a public rally at Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra.
Fadnavis’ announcement came hours after MSSBC member-secretary DD Deshmukh submitted the Commission’s voluminous report on the socio-economic status of Marathas to State Chief Secretary DK Jain.
On August 7, the Bombay High Court, which is hearing a bunch of public interest litigations seeking reservation and directions to the MSBCC had set November 15 as deadline for MSBCC to submit its report to it.
Confirming the receipt of the report on Marathas from the MSBCC, Jain said: "We have received a report from the MSSBC on the economic, social and economic status of the Maratha community. We will study the report and table it before the State Cabinet for a decision to be made on the basis of recommendations made in the report”.
The MSBCC, headed by Justice (Retd) NG Gaikwad, had over the past few months had held a series of public hearings and perused more than two lakh documents, letters, affidavits placed before it.
Official sources said that the chief minister would make a formal announcement about reservations to Marathas during the winter session of the Maharashtra Legislature beginning on November 19.
Currently Maharashtra has 52 per cent reservations in jobs and educational institutions. Of the total 52 per cent reservations, SCs and ST communities account for 13 and 7 per cent, respectively, while OBCs have 19 per cent per cent reservations, VJNT. Together, Special Backward Class and Nomadic Tribes account for 13 per cent.
Sources said that the MSBCC had in its report recommended reservations to Marathas without disturbing the quota already set aside for the OBCs.
Marathas, who have been agitating under the aegis of Maratha Kranti Morcha, for reservations in jobs and educations across the state for the past two years, account for more than 30 per cent of Maharashtra's nearly 11.25 crore population.
Reacting to the chief minister’s announcement about the state government’s plans to come out with reservations for Marathas, former Chief Minister and Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan said: “We fully support Maratha reservation. The Government should take immediate action to guarantee Maratha reservation”.
Slamming the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance Government for delaying the implementation of reservations to various communities, Chavan said: “The Congress had granted Maratha reservation in 2014, but the BJP-Sena Government failed to protect this reservation in court. More than 40 people have lost their lives in this agitation. If the Government had taken action earlier, these 40 lives could have been saved. There is no need to delay this decision further”.
"We have given 16 per cent reservation to the Marathas. It is to be seen how much the BJP-Sena Government will provide for," former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said. Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde of the NCP asked the State Government to announce reservations before the start the winter session of the Maharashtra Legislature.
It may be recalled that on November 14, 2014, the Bombay High Court had stayed an ordinance promulgated by the previous Congress-led Government ahead of the October 2014 State Assembly polls extending 16 per cent reservations to Marathas and five per cent to Muslims, saying that they were not in conformity with the law laid down by the Supreme Court in three cases.
However, a HC bench, headed by the then Chief Justice Mohit Shah, had subsequently allowed reservations to Muslims in educational institutions, on the ground at that their educational achievements were "abysmally low" and that there was a need to draw them into the "mainstream of secular education".
On its part, the BJP-led saffron alliance Government – which came to power after the October 2014 Assembly polls --subsequently moved the apex court challenging the stay granted by the high court on an ordinance promulgated by the previous Congress-led DF Government.
However, the Supreme Court rejected the State Government’s petition.
The matter came back to the high court after advocate Vikas Patil filed an intervention petition in the Supreme Court on the issue.
The apex court directed the high court to hear the bunch of petitions pending before it.
