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Maratha reservation: CM Uddhav Thackeray meets Governor, seeks President's intervention
Last week, the Supreme Court had quashed a Maharashtra law granting reservation to the Maratha community saying people. Uddhav Thackeray has sought President Ram Nath Kovind's intervention.
A delegation of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders, led by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday evening and submitted a letter addressed to the President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention for providing reservation to the Maratha community.
After the meeting, Thackeray said they will also be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek reservation for the community.
“In view of the Supreme Court decision that the authority for providing reservation is only with the President, we have written a letter to the President asking reservation for the Maratha community," Thackeray told reporters.
He was accompanied by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, PWD minister Ashok Chavan, home minister Dilip Walse Patil, revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat and other leaders.
Last week, the Supreme Court had quashed a Maharashtra law granting reservation to the Maratha community saying people from the community can’t be declared educationally and socially backward just to bring them in the reserved category. It had termed the reservation as “unconstitutional".
The five-judge bench also refused to refer the 1992 Indra Sawhney judgment, setting a 50 per cent cap on reservation to a larger bench for reconsideration.
After the verdict, Thackeray had said that he was disappointed. "It is a disappointing verdict on Maratha reservation. We have been fighting for it for the last many years. All the parties unanimously cleared it in the state legislature," the chief minister said.
Speaking on the verdict Thackeray said the demand for reservations is not just of a community but of the entire state. Exuding confidence in the Centre he said that the demand will not be disrespected by the Prime Minister or the government.
The Maharashtra government on Saturday announced to appoint a committee under two retired high court judges to review the Supreme Court judgement and suggest the way forward in the quota issue.
