Maharashtra govt files review plea for Maratha quota

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday filed a review petition before the Supreme Court, seeking reversal of its May 5 decision to scrap Maratha reservation

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday filed a review petition before the Supreme Court, seeking reversal of its May 5 decision to scrap Maratha reservation.

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The petition was filed based on recommendations of a state-appointed committee led by retired chief justice Dilip Bhosale to examine the apex court judgment and suggest measures. Advocate Sachin Patil, counsellor for the state government in the Supreme Court, confirmed the development. He, however, refused to share details of the petition.

A five-judge bench of the Apex court in its ruling on May 5 struck down the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018, which extended 12% and 13% reservation to the Maratha community in education and employment respectively in excess of the ceiling limit of 50% fixed by the Supreme Court earlier. The 50% cap in reservation was fixed in the Indra Sawhney judgment passed by a nine-judge bench. The bench had also ruled that only extraordinary circumstances would justify grant of reservation in excess of the 50% ceiling. The state, in its petition, has pointed out many reasons based on which they have requested the five-judge bench to hear the case once again. It has said that the reservation for the economically weaker section (EWS) passed by the central government also breaches the 50% ceiling in many states. It was also challenged before the apex court for the same reason of 50% ceiling and is still pending with it. Hence, the issue of 50% ceiling for reservation is yet not cleared, said a senior official requesting anonymity.

As the Sawhney judgement passed by the nine-judge bench says that only extraordinary circumstances would justify grant of reservation in excess of the 50% ceiling, in that case the extraordinary circumstances have to be decided either by nine-bench judges or more than that. Thus, rejecting the state government’s prayers for referring the matter to the 11-judge bench was erroneous. In addition, the prayer was supported by 20-odd states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, Rajasthan etc., said the official.

The petition also pointed out that the apex court while quashing the SEBC Act also said that the states have no powers to grant reservation to socially and economically backward classes post 102nd amendment in the Constitution, following which was challenged by the central government through a petition. “The grounds of the apex court cannot sustain when the central government time and again has clarified that the rights of the states for providing reservation to a community have not been removed,” he informed.

In response to the appeal made by CM Uddhav Thackeray last week, Maratha outfits from Monday have put their ongoing silent protest on hold for four weeks. The decision was taken, expressing satisfaction over the steps taken by the state government in relation to the six major demands put forth by the Maratha outfits.

“Today, Maharashtra government has filed for the review petition in context with Maratha Reservation in the Supreme Court as per the primary demand raised by us,” tweeted Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, Rajya Sabha MP, who is leading the protests.