Mumbai: A petitioner opposing the decision of the Maharashtra government to grant 16 per cent reservation to Maratha community, on Tuesday said the government has erroneously crafted the new category — Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC).
The petitioner further argued before the Bombay High Court that Marathas could not be given a separate 16 per cent quota, but instead, must be included in the already existing Other Backward Class (OBC) category. A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre has been hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the quota to Marathas in public service and education.
On Tuesday, the bench heard the arguments of advocate Pramod Patil, who appeared for petitioner Rajesh Tekale, a lawyer by profession. In his arguments, Patil said, “The Marathas were in the list of backward communities till 1952. However, for unknown reasons, the community’s name was removed from the list.
The Marathas have since then been deprived of reservation and whatever decision the government has now taken is nothing but a move to clear the backlog of all these years.” “We are not against the Maratha reservation but only oppose the separate 16 per cent quota.
The community should have been included in the OBC category and the government should not have had crafted a new category only for Marathas. This is against the law,” Patil argued. According to Patil, by virtue of this new category, the government has breached the 50 per cent cap, laid down by the Supreme Court and thus the decision is illegal.
