‘Maratha reservation agitation may not stand legal scrutiny’
MUMBAI: Even though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)led government has drummed up a case in favour of 16% special reservation for the protesting Maratha community, legal experts and officials say the state’s argument could fall through.
On the back of several high court and Supreme Court orders, they say that the government will have no option but to offer Marathas reservation within the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota. A few leading organisers of the protests say that they are open to being categorised under this quota.
Politically, this could prove to be problematic for the government as it will lead to a Marathas vs OBCs tussle in the state.
A month and a half after the Marathas conducted silent protest rallies, the state hired one of the best legal brains in the country, Harish Salve, to represent it in the high court. It is banking on the centre to release caste-based 2011 census data on the Maratha community to help strengthen its argument that Marathas are economically backward.
To prove that the community comprises small and marginal farmers and mathadis (head loaders), the government has dug up around 1,200 documents — including those from the Shivaji era that showcase the community as comprising the peasant class — with the help of the Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute.
Officials admit that this may not cut ice in the courts. The previous Congress-NCP government issued an ordinance in 2014, offering 16% reservation to the Marathas and 5% to the Muslims.
However,the Bombay high court stayed it, pointing at the Supreme Court norm, which capped reservation at 50%. It added that the data submitted by minister Narayan Rane’s committee was faulty. It ruled that the government did not follow the provisions of the State Backward Class Commission Act 2005.
Two of the state Backward Class Commissions — Bhatia The state government has appointed a battery of legal experts including
Harish Salve, former advocate general Ravi Kadam and Vijay Thorat to plead its case on reservation in the Bombay high court during the hearings beginning on October 13
Marathas have been demanding reservation on the basis of social and economic backwardness
About 12-15% of Maratha Kunbis, who comprise 35% of The State Backward Class Commission, earlier headed by retired justice JH Bhatia, has been functioning without a head the past seven months after his three-year term ended in February this year and Bapat — had not endorsed the government’s stand on the reservation, ruling that the community was neither economically nor socially backward. Despite this, the state formed a committee in 2014, under then revenue minister Narayan Rane to submit a case to grant reservation to Marathas.
“Almost all the state backward committees and commissions including recent Bapat and Bhatia commissions have denied endorsing the government. Even if the government succeeds in proving the backwardness of the community, it should think of including it in OBCs and extend the existing percentage by four the community, already fall under the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota
The Marathas say the OBC quota is disproportionate to their share of population
The first demand for reservation by the Marathas was raised in May 1993. However, almost all the State Backward Class committees and commissions, since then, have opposed granting reservation to the community The Justice has moved the proposal for the new appointment, which has to be made by the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also heads the law and judiciary department. to five per cent more as the court allows it in extraordinary circumstances. However, the inclusion of Marathas in the OBC quota will not be easy,” said a minister on the condition of anonymity.
Maratha protest leaders say the stance adopted by political parties claiming to offer reservation without disturbing the existing OBC quota, is insincere.
“This 16% reservation over and above the existing quota is impossible. Our contention is that the reservation given to the OBCs is disproportionate to their percentage,” said Balasaheb Patil Sarate, a Maratha leader and head of Chhatrapati Shivaji Prabodhini.