The Bombay High Court while hearing a plea challenging the 2 per cent reservation to the Koli community along with four other castes, sought to know if there was any "quantifiable data" to substantiate that these communities are socially backward.
A bench led by Justice Gautam Patel has also sought clarity from the HC Registry as to whether the present plea be heard by him as a writ petition or shall it be converted into a public interest litigation. Advocate Sanjeet Shukla, who has filed the writ petition, said, "The judge while hearing the matter noted that we have filed a writ petition but the reliefs that we have sought are in nature of a PIL.
Thus, the court has asked the Registry to clarify if he should continue hearing the matter or the bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, which hears PILs, as per the roster." According to the plea, the state government in December 1994, created a category under the Special Backward Classes to the Macchimar Koli, Govari, Mana, Halba Koshti, Sonkoli and Munnurwar castes. The state granted two per cent reservation to these communities.
