In a relief to hundreds of people, the Bombay high court (HC) on Friday stayed the July 11 government resolution (GR) terminating services of those appointed in government jobs after 2014 from open categories. The GR was aimed at accommodating candidates from the Maratha community and was set to be effective from Friday.
The employees had approached the court as they received termination notices from their respective departments on the grounds that they had been hired on posts reserved for the Marathas. This came on the heels of the HC upholding reservation for Marathas under the Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) quota.
The employees argued that both the HC and the Supreme Court had held that reservation under the SEBC Act, which came into force on November 30, 2018, could not be implemented retrospectively, hence the termination notices were invalid. The HC stayed the GR and posted the matter for further hearing on December 5.
The division bench comprising justices Ranjit More and Makarand Karnik was hearing petitions filed by the affected employees.
Stressing the urgency of hearing the matter, advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte, appearing for the petitioners, informed the court that despite the state’s assurance to the court in August that the resolution would not be implemented, some departments had issued termination notices in September and had also appointed persons from the SEBC category. Citing that the GR was set to be effective from Friday, Sadavarte said that if the court did not intervene, the new appointees would join and the interest of the petitioners would be compromised.
{{/usCountry}}Stressing the urgency of hearing the matter, advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte, appearing for the petitioners, informed the court that despite the state’s assurance to the court in August that the resolution would not be implemented, some departments had issued termination notices in September and had also appointed persons from the SEBC category. Citing that the GR was set to be effective from Friday, Sadavarte said that if the court did not intervene, the new appointees would join and the interest of the petitioners would be compromised.
{{/usCountry}}Special counsel for the state VA Thorat submitted that a statement was being issued by the government that it would not implement the July 11 resolution, but the bench said that it was passing orders and stayed the implementation of the GR.