The Shiv Sena raised the issue of restoring the quota in education and jobs for the Maratha community and 27% political reservation for other backward classes (OBC) in local bodies. This was discussed at the all-party meeting held on the eve of the Parliament session on Sunday. These reservations were scrapped by the Supreme Court, citing that they crossed the 50% quota ceiling.
The Sena was represented by party MPs Vinayak Raut from the Lok Sabha and Sanjay Raut from Rajya Sabha at the meeting. The Sena has sought the Centre’s intervention to amend the constitution for their restoration.
In the recently held monsoon session, the state passed a resolution urging the Centre to amend the constitution to remove the 50% ceiling on caste-based reservations set earlier by the apex court. As per the resolution, without relaxing the 50% limit on caste-based reservations, the quota for socially & educationally backward classes cannot be granted.Further, the government passed another resolution recommending the Centre to provide data to the state. The government has urged the Centre to provide the 2011 census data to enable the state backward class commission to prepare an empirical data of the OBC population, in a bid to restore political reservations for its members in local bodies.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has already urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate the constitutional amendments to relax the 50% cap on reservations; thereby restore the 12% quota in education and 13% in government jobs for the Maratha community, which constitutes 33% of the state’s population. Further, the CM requested Modi to find a constitutional solution for the restoration of OBC quota in local bodies. “Empirical data of OBCs is required to provide representation to the community in local bodies. The data is with the central government. I urge you to pursue with the Centre to provide the empirical data of the 2011 census to enable the state government to take further steps,” said Thackeray.
Last month, the state government provided benefits under the economically weaker section (EWS) quota for the Maratha community.
As per the government resolution, the Maratha community can avail benefits under 10% EWS reservation in government jobs and education.
The EWS quota will be applicable to the community from September 9, 2020, till the final verdict was pronounced by the Supreme Court on May 5. The EWS quota will be applicable for SEBC candidates whose appointments were pending before the interim stay.
