Accepts Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission suggestions
Having accepted the recommendations made by the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) on the socio-economic status of the Marathas, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday announced that his Government would grant reservations to Marathas in jobs and education under a new Socio-Economic Backward Class (SEBC) category.
Talking to mediapersons here on the eve of the start of the Winter Session of Maharashtra Legislature, Fadnavis said, “We have accepted the recommendations made by the MSBCC. We have decided to accord reservations to the Maratha community under a new SEBC category. The reservations to be granted to Marathas will be independent of the existing reservations for the OBC category.”
The Chief Minister said the State Government had constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee to take statutory steps to implement its decision.
Fadnavis said the MSBCC had made three recommendations in its submission to the Maharashtra Government on November 15. “The MSBCC has recommended that Marathas be given reservations on the basis their socio-economic backwardness under extraordinary situations. As per the guidelines of the Supreme Court (which has pegged the cap on reservations at 50 per cent), we have an extraordinary situation on hand. Based on the commission’s recommendations, we have decided to create a new SEBC category under which we intend to accord reservations to Marathas without affecting the reservations already given under the OBC category,” the Chief Minister said.
Replying to a question, the Chief Minister said there is no need for the State Government to seek the permission of the Central Backward Class Commission to grant reservations to Marathas in jobs and education.
Official sources said the Maharashtra Government would introduce a Bill in the Winter Session of the State Legislature to create SEBC category and accord 16 per cent reservations to Maratha community in addition to the existing 52 per cent reservations in the State. When the law is enacted, the reservations will go up to 68 per cent in Maharashtra.
According to sources, the Maharashtra Government is contemplating to take the route adopted by the Tamil Nadu Government under late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, which achieved its objective of increasing reservations to 69 per cent by passing the Tamil Nadu Act of 1994 and adding the 1994 Act to the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
Article 31B of the Constitution stipulates that the legislations in the Ninth Schedule cannot be challenged in courts.
However, in 2007, the Supreme Court in IR Coelho vs State of Tamil Nadu ruled that even those laws which are placed in the Ninth Schedule are subject to judicial review if the laws violate the basic structure of the Constitution. Interestingly enough, a petition challenging the Tamil Nadu Reservation policy is expected to come up for hearing before the Supreme Court later this month.
Given that all the political parties, including the Opposition Congress and the NCP, are in favour of according reservations to Marathas, there will be absolutely no difficulty for the Devendra Fadnavis Government in ensuring the enactment of a law granting reservations to Marathas. However, it remains be seen if the new law will pass the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in the event of a challenge of the State Government’s reservation policy in the Supreme Court.
Currently Maharashtra has 52 per cent reservations cap in jobs and educational institutions. Of the total 52 per cent reservations, SCs and ST communities account for 13 and 7 per cent, respectively, while OBCs have 19 per cent reservations. Together, Special Backward Class and Nomadic Tribes account for 13 per cent quota.
It may be recalled that on November 14, 2014, the Bombay High Court had stayed an Ordinance promulgated by the previous Congress-led DF Government ahead of the October 2014 State Assembly polls extending 16 per cent reservations to Marathas and five per cent to Muslims, saying that they were not in conformity with the law laid down by the Supreme Court in three cases.
However, a HC Bench, headed by then Chief Justice Mohit Shah, had subsequently allowed reservations to Muslims in educational institutions, on the ground at that their educational achievements were “abysmally low” and that there was a need to draw them into the “mainstream of secular education”.
On its part, the BJP-led saffron alliance Government - which came to power after the October 2014 Assembly polls — subsequently moved the apex court challenging the stay granted by the High Court on an Ordinance promulgated by the previous Congress-led DF Government.
However, the Supreme Court rejected the State Government’s petition. The matter came back to the High Court after advocate Vikas Patil filed an intervention petition in the Supreme Court on the issue. The apex court directed the High Court to hear the bunch of petitions pending before it.