Marathas resume stir; will ensure quota is reinstated, says Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati

Demanding that their quota in government jobs and education be restored at the earliest, Maratha community outfits held agitation in Nanded on Friday

Demanding that their quota in government jobs and education be restored at the earliest, Maratha community outfits held agitation in Nanded on Friday. Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, who is leading the agitation, said that both the state and Central government will have to take certain decisions to ensure Maratha reservation will be reinstated. He said that the Centre will have to remove the 50% cap on reservation quota mandated by the Supreme Court while the state government will have to ensure that the Maratha community is socially and educationally backward.

Members of the Maratha community participated in a bike rally organised by Maratha Kranti Sangharsh Morcha (MKSM) from Somaiya Maidan to CSMT, demanding reservation, in Mumbai, on June 27, 2021. (HT PHOTO)

Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati is a descendant of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji and has taken a lead in providing reservation to the Maratha community after the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act 2018 — which was enacted by the state government to provide quota to the community — was quashed by the Supreme Court on May 5. The community is upset with the Apex court verdict and want it to be restored with immediate effect.

Before this, Maratha outfits held agitations in Kolhapur and Nashik. “Both the state and the Central government are trying to shirk the responsibility by saying that the other will have to take the decision. The Centre is saying that they have made the 127th Amendment in the Constitution and it is on the state government to provide reservation. The state government has said that the Central government will have to remove the 50% cap on reservation quota. But the fact is both the governments [state and the Centre] will have to make certain decisions, only after which, Maratha community will get their reservation back,” Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati said while addressing a gathering in Nanded on Friday afternoon.

The reservation of the state has currently reached 52%.

“The Central government will have to ensure that the 50% cap on reservation quota is removed by the Apex court without which the state government cannot provide the reservation. The state government will also have to start the process to prove that the Maratha community is socially and educationally backward. We are not interested in the fighting between both the governments,” he added.

A five-judge bench of the Apex court, in its ruling on May 5, struck down the SEBC Act, 2018, which extended 12% and 13% reservation to the Maratha community in education and employment respectively, above the ceiling limit of 50% fixed by the Supreme Court earlier. The 50% cap in the reservation was fixed in the Indra Sawhney judgment passed by a nine-judge bench.

While quashing the SEBC Act, the bench had also ruled that states have no powers to grant reservation to socially and economically backward classes post 102nd Amendment in the Constitution. Following this, the Central government has moved a bill for the 127th Amendment in the Constitution to restore the right of the states to identify and provide reservation to the backward classes. The bill was approved by the Parliament on August 11.