Maratha reservation: Govt remarks in ordinance upsets commission

Claiming that the ordinance issued for 16% reservation for the Maratha community in education and jobs had factual errors, the Maharashtra backward class commission has now approached the government.

Claiming that the ordinance issued for 16% reservation for the Maratha community in education and jobs had factual errors, the state backward class commission, headed by JH Bhatia, has now approached the government. The ordinance blames the commission for a delay of 10 years in submitting the recommendations needed for the decision on reservation.

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While issuing the ordinance on July 9, the then government had stated that it had requested the commission for a fresh report outlining the socio-economic condition of the community. “A sub-committee of the ministers had requested the commission that since the 22nd report of the commission was inadequate on the information related to the socio-economic condition of the society, it should submit a fresh recommendation to the government. Despite several requests, the commission did not respond positively for at least a decade and kept requesting the government to first take the decision on the 22nd report submitted by the previous commission in July 2008,” the ordinance states.

In a letter sent to the governor, secretary of social justice department and the registrar of the high court three weeks ago, the commission expressed its displeasure over the language used in the ordinance.

RD Shinde, secretary, social justice department, said, “We have received the letter written by the commission. It has presented its version. No reply has been sent yet.”

The 22nd report of the commission had stated that the community cannot be included in the OBC category for reservation. The earlier Prithviraj Chavan-led government had given the reservation by striking down the 22nd report partially. The reservation was given based on the report submitted by the Rane committee, which had criticised the commission for failing in submitting its recommendations.