Mumbai: The petitioners challenging the reservation to the Marathas informed the Bombay HC on Friday three of the five data collecting agencies hired by the State Backward Class Commission have close political proximity to the BJP govt. They alleged the agencies did not even have any prior experience of such data collection for caste-based research.

They said the agencies, Rambhau Mahalgi Prabodhini is the official training centre of RSS, Gokhale Institute and Sharda Academy are also close to the RSS. The other two are Shivaji Academy and Gurukripa Sanstha, we­re the agencies given the task to collect information of Ma­r­a­tha community members.

The agencies conducted survey and collected data from Marathas in Kokan, Vidarbha, Western and North Maharashtra and submitted reports. The petitioners questioned why was Mumbai excluded. “Many Marathas work at Mantralaya and other government offices and yet they were excluded,” objected one petitioner.

The petitioners challenged the premise of the Backward Class Commission for suggesting quota to Marathas. “It is difficult to believe the Marathas do not have permanent homes, LPG cylinders and that is the premise for declaring them bacjward,” clai­med advocate Pradeep Sa­n­cheti, who represented San­jit Shukla for the petitioners. The division bench comprised Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre.