Implementing Hyderabad gazette: Old wine in new bottle, say experts

The GR presents nothing new than the system already established to procure Kunbi certificates, based on records, said experts

MUMBAI: A day after the state government agreed to implement the Hyderabad gazette, through a Government Resolution (GR), which would enable eligible Marathas in Marathwada get Kunbi certificates, paving their way into the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, community members and experts have located loopholes in GR.

Implementing Hyderabad gazette: Old wine in new bottle, say experts

After going through the fine print, they have claimed that the GR presents nothing new than the system already established to procure Kunbi certificates, based on records. They have also argued that the process of issuing the records mentioned in the gazette is no different from the one collated by the Justice Sandeep Shinde Committee in the last one year.

Yogesh Kedar, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s close aide, to whom the draft GR was shown by the cabinet sub-committee led by minister of water resources Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, before it was sent for government approval, revealed “flaws and discrepancies that would lead to hardship for generations to come, as there is a lack of clarity in the process of issuing Kunbi certificates going forward”.

Another Maratha quota petitioner, Vinod Patil, said that the GR has nothing new than what is in place in the revenue records (collated by the Shinde Committee). “Somebody needs to state things clearly. The GR says that the one who seeks a Kunbi certificate needs to have documents prior to October 1967 and that home inquiries by the revenue machinery will facilitate the issuance of the certificates. It is an established system – the GR simply puts it on paper.”

Officials from the General Administration Department (GAD) said that more than 10 lakh Kunbi certificates have been issued in the last one year on the basis of 58 lakh records, which the government’s validation committee has approved.

In order to cool down dissident voices, on Wednesday, Jarange-Patil stated that the GR was sacrosanct. “The records in the Hyderabad gazette will help Marathas in Marathwada to establish their Kunbi lineage. The three-member committee at the gram panchayat level will help even landless Marathas get Kunbi certificates by giving affidavits with declarations from landlords who have employed them. Some people who are working in the interest of the government have been spreading rumours to create rift between me and the community. The GR was important for the sake of reservation as there were no records of Marathas’ Kunbi lineage from 1881 (when the first caste-based census was done) available with the machinery.”

Madhukar Ardad, former divisional commissioner, who worked with Justice Shinde committee said that Hyderabad gazette has records of Kunbi-Marathas in Marathwada comprising 35% to 40% of the population.

“The records exist at village and tehsil levels for Marathas to access. The home inquiry by the machinery and lineage committee at tehsil levels will help getting the lineage records from the documents of distanced relatives. The implementation of the gazette will help Marathas to get the records from 1881 and help procure more certificates,” said Ardad.