Bombay HC had stayed Maharashtra government's decision to give 16% reservation to Marathas and 5% to Muslims in public service
The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed Maharashtra government's decision before polls to give 16% reservation to Marathas and 5% to Muslims in public service. The 5% reservation given to Muslims in educational institutions would continue, the HC said.
Reacting to the HC decision, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state government has decided to approach the Supreme Court against the stay. "The state government is fully supportive of Maratha quota. We will appeal in SC on the HC ruling. We will take measures to ensure that the quota remains," Fadnavis told reporters in Mumbai.
The decision to give reservation to Marathas was taken by the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government. The combine, with an eye on assembly elections after severe drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, on 25th June had approved 16% reservation for Marathas and 5% for Muslims in government jobs and education institutions.
Earlier on 5th August, the HC had directed the state government to file an affidavit by 19th August in reply to some public interest litigations (PILs). The PIL challenged the government resolution (GR) issued for granting reservation of Marathas and Muslims.
Four PILs had been filed in the Court, challenging the Maharashtra government’s decision to grant reservation to the Maratha and Muslim community. One petition has claimed that the reservation to Muslims is unconstitutional, as the Constitution does not permit religion-based reservation.
Former journalist Ketan Tirodkar who has filed one of the PILs had argued that communities were not backward, and Marathas were in fact dominant in many sectors. He told the Court that 75% of cooperative sugar factories, about 75% educational institutes in Maharashtra were controlled by Marathas. Also, 75%of the land in the state was owned by the Maratha community, he had claimed.
With the additional 21% quotas for the politically influential Maratha community and Muslims, reservation in jobs and educational institutions in Maharashtra have gone up to 73%.
Earlier, senior advocate Pradeep Sancheti, appearing for the NGO Youth For Equality, another petitioner, had argued that as per the Supreme Court's guidelines aggregate reservations cannot exceed 50%, and a religion cannot be a basis for providing reservations.
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