High court to conduct yet another hearing on Maratha Reservation

Strap: Days after the Maharashtra government officially gave the Marathas a 16% quota in government jobs and education, the Bombay high court already has received the first petition challenging the government’s decision

MUMBAI: NP NEWS 24 ONLINE– On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court refused to put stay on Maratha reservation and will soon hear the matter in the next hearing which will be conducted on 10th December.

The petition pointed out how the quota exceeds the 50% ceiling, and how a section of the Maratha community — the Kunbi-Marathas — had already been given a reservation under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category with reference to Indira Sawhney case  .

The plea also showed concern towards reservations would create a ‘class within a class’, affecting those who do not belong to any reserved category.

Petitioner Gunaratan Sadavarte, said that, “the reservation was invalid, and that this quota meant the open category was left with only 32%.”

The petition by HC judge Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Makrand Karnik  and the Maratha reservation has received relief from the court immediately.

Similarly, state’s revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, conducted a meeting with Ravi Kadam, V. M. Thorat, Ed. Naik, Adv. Salvi, Adv. Shivram Pingale, adv. Dilip Mali, Adv. Patwardhan, Adv. Thackeray had a meeting with 22 senior advocates where he explained the lawyers present about necessary steps taken by the government to preserve the Maratha Reservation in the court.

The High Court gave relief to Maratha Reservation in a way that in the next hearing all the issues regarding reservation will be heard.

The issue with Maratha reservation came into light after Bombay HC struck down the separate quota for Maratha community granted by the previous Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra in 2014 ever since Devendra Fadnavis came into power .

Maratha groups and outfits demanding reservation in jobs and education for the community largely remained peaceful for three years. But in the past few months, they have started pressurizing on the incumbent Devendra Fadnavis government, which will seek re-election in little over a year’s time from now.