Fadnavis rules out Marathas in OBCs

The Marathas will not be included in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category for reservations, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the state assembly on Thursday, adding, doing so would have a “catastrophic effect”.

The government also announced that it has set up a cabinet subcommittee to implement the Maratha reservation. The panel, comprising seven senior ministers and an IAS officer as a member secretary, will be headed by revenue minister Chandrakant Patil.

PWD minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, education minister Vinod Tawde, water conservation minister Ram Shinde are among its other members.

Fadnavis’ statement on how the quota will be implemented comes just days after OBC leaders said they feared the quota their community is entitled to will be diluted. Currently, reservations in Maharashtra add up to 52%, above the Supreme Court-mandated cap of 50%.

The Marathas demand a 16% quota, and the state agreed to the demand after the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission’s report endorsed the comunity’s social, educational and financial backwardness. The amount of reservation has not yet been decided.

The state plans to provide Maratha reservations under a separate class, called the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC), by making use of an exception in the SC’s ruling that said rules may need to be relaxed in case of extraordinary situations. HTC