The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a Maharashtra state law providing reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education. A bench headed by Justice LN Rao issued the interim order of stay while referring a clutch of petitions to a larger bench of five or more judges.
The order means there will be no quota for the Maratha community in state government jobs and educational institutions until the matter is decided by the larger bench.
While issuing the interim directive, the bench made it clear that admissions to postgraduate courses will not be disturbed since the exams ended in July.
The stay order came even as the Maharashtra government submitted that there would be no regular appointment in the jobs for the time being.
The Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act provides for 12-13% quota to Maratha community in jobs and education.
The petitioners, who have challenged Maratha reservation — which takes quota percentage in the state over the 50% mark declared by a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney case — have asked for a 11-judge bench to decide the contentions.
The appeals said the Bombay High Court’s decision is seriously erroneous as the state law has breached the 50% cap on reservation fixed by a Constitution Bench in the Indira Sawhney judgment. It has also been contended that the high court decision was based on incomplete data. They have said that the reservation law was enacted under political pressure, bypassing the laid-down norms.
‘Black Day for Marathas’
It is a “black day” for Marathas, said the Maharashtra BJP on Wednesday as it attacked the state Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government after the Supreme Court stayed implementation of the 2018 law granting quota to the community in education and jobs. State BJP president Chandrakant Patil claimed the MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, was “not serious” in ensuring that the quota held its ground before the apex court.
Patil also charged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP president Sharad Pawar with not paying attention to the matter. “The MVA could not ensure the reservation held groundbefore the Supreme Court,” he said.
Noting that the apex court referred the batch of pleas challenging the validity of the law to a larger bench, Patil said now nobody knows when the ruling in the matter will come. He contended that matters referred to a larger bench in the past have remained pending for years.
“This means the stay will continue till the bench gives an order. Now there is no point in the community protesting either, because nobody knows when the ruling will come. Therefore, it is a black day for the community,” the BJP leader said, adding his party had repeatedly told the MVA government to take the issue seriously and prepare well legally for the same.
“The MVA did not want the reservation. Which senior leader of theirs paid attention to the matter? Did Uddhav ji or Sharad Pawar pay attention?” he asked. “There is a scope to say now that their mindset was such that they were fine if the quota was stayed as they were not serious to ensure it holds ground.”
The Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) ,Act, 2018 was enacted to grant reservation to people of the Maratha community in Maharashtra in jobs and education. The Bombay High Court, while upholding the law in June last year, had held that 16% reservation was not justifiable and said the quota should not exceed 12% in employment and 13% in admissions.
The politically dominant Maratha community, which constitutes over 30% of the state’s population, held several protests in the past demanding reservation in jobs and education.
(With inputs from PTI)
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