AG refuses to meet state legal team on Maratha reservation
Over 22,000 beneficiaries get a shot in Mumbai
Days after Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad skipped a meeting convened by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the Maratha reservation, Attorney General KK Venugopal denied to meet Maharashtra Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakone and advisor Vijaysinh Thorat via video conference ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on March 8. He has cited his refusal to maintain impartiality in the matter. A senior Maha Vikas Aghadi minister told the Free Press Journal, “Venugopal has communicated that he will appear in the apex court as per its notice. However, it would not be appropriate to meet the state legal team to maintain neutrality. The state government has been seeking the central government’s cooperation and support for the restoration of 12% quota in education and 13% in government jobs for the Maratha community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2018, from day one.’’ He further said the state government has repeatedly pleaded to the central government that its cooperation is needed on constitutional and judicial issues related to the 50 per cent reservation limit envisaged in the Indra Sahni case and the effect of the 102nd Constitutional Amendment on the rights of state governments. Prasad, who had earlier agreed to participate in a meeting on the matter through a video conference on Sunday, had skipped it at the last minute. Public Works Minister Ashok Chavan, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on the Maratha quota, admitted that Prasad was not present at the meeting convened by the CM and added that the reason was not known.
A total of 16,092 beneficiaries, including 14,892 senior citizens above 60 years and 1,200 beneficiaries with co-morbidities between 45 and 59 years of age received the vaccine dose on Thursday. This is the highest single day figure of senior citizens and those having co-morbidities in Mumbai so far. Out of the total turnout total 3,781 (24%) beneficiaries took the jab in private hospitals.
Senior civic health officials said that they believe the number of beneficiaries will be going up. Private hospitals have started giving out the dosages.
"The response was nice on Thursday. In many hospitals inoculation continued till late evening and we are hopeful that more people will turn up in the coming days," said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner and incharge of public health in BMC.
"On Thursday, only 13 out of 29 private hospitals were functional. The rest of the hospitals will become active within the next two days," Kakani added.