Maratha Quota Bill Tabled In Maharashtra Assembly; Check Earlier Setbacks

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde tabled the bill, proposing 10 per cent reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs, during a special Assembly session on Tuesday.

“We have proposed the reservation to Marathas without disturbing the existing quota,” he clarified in the House.

This followed the State Cabinet’s go-ahead to the report of the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission, which said that 84 per cent of Marathas are not advanced or well-to-do. The survey by the backward class panel also showed that 94% of the farmers who committed suicides in the state belonged to the Maratha community. It also showed that the percentage of the Maratha community is low in secondary and higher education.

While pushing for the need 10 per cent reservation to Maratha community in public services and educational institutions, the Commission, in its report submitted to the Maharashtra Government on Friday, added:  “Exceptional and extraordinary circumstances specified by the Commission exists while authorising the granting of limited reservation of more than 50 per cent to the Maratha community in reservation in admissions to civil institutions and in reservation in public services and posts.”

The special session was called days after Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis assured Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil of the same. He has been on fast-unto-death since February 10 demanding reservation in education and jobs for the Maratha community under the OBC category.

The OBC community, on the other hand, is staging a protest in Beed, opposing Jarange’s demand to take reservation from OBC.

Notably, earlier attempts by state governments to introduce reservation for Marathas have been struck down by courts.

In 2014, just before the election, the then Congress government under Prithviraj Chavan implemented a 16 per cent reservation for Marathas. However, the Bombay High Court struck it down, saying that the Supreme Court had already made it clear that reservation cannot exceed 50 per cent of the total seats.

In 2021, the Supreme Court again struck down 16 per cent reservation for Marathas in college admissions and jobs in Maharashtra, announced by Devendra Fadnavis government,  saying that there were no exceptional circumstances to justify the breach of the 50% ceiling on overall reservations. The state filed a review plea, which was also rejected.

The Maratha Reservation Bill is similar to the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2018, reports said.