The Bombay High Court has granted an urgent hearing on March 8 on a petition challenging the recent reservation granted to the Maratha community in government jobs and education.
A bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla granted urgent hearing after the petitioner Gunaratan Sadavarte pointed out to the court that the government has issued advertisements calling for applications to fill up vacancies at police constabulary level and also admissions for medical seats will commence soon.
Sadavarte submitted that after the reservation granted to Maratha community, reservation has now crossed 50% mark in the state.
Petitioner's claims
"The general category will have only 38%. With a horizontal reservation of 33% for women, ex-servicemen, 1% for orphans, the sports category, and all, the remaining less than 18% exists for the general category of boys," Sadavarte argued.
He highlighted that the elections are being announced and despite the high court and even the Supreme court striking down the reservation granted to Maratha community in earlier occasions, the state has again granted the reservation.
"Reservation to a certain community has been provided as they have political clout"
"The reservation to a certain community has been provided as they have political clout. No one wants to take care of the general category as there are no powerful leaders," he argued. The court enquired about the last date for submitting applications under the mentioned advertisements.
Sadavarte informed them that the deadline for the police constable posts was March 30 and for medical NEET was March 10. The bench asked him to serve notices to the state and scheduled the hearing for Friday.
The petition filed by Sadavarte, advocate Jayanti Patil and Rajaram Patil challenged the law passed by the Maharashtra legislature granting 10% reservation to the Maratha community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) category in government jobs and education. The law was passed on February 20, and the governor’s notification was issued on February 26.
The legislation was based on recommendations in a report submitted by the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, chaired by retired high court judge Justice Sunil Shukre. The report stated that the Maratha population in the state was 28% and faced extraordinary conditions of backwardness, justifying reservations beyond the 50% cap.
The plea has challenged Justice Shukre’s appointment as well and also sought quashing of the report.
It has further sought a stay on the law’s effect pending disposal of the plea and prohibits the issuance of advertisements for jobs and educational courses under the SEBC category reservation.
