30% of Maharashtra’s population is Maratha, cannot be compared with marginal class: Court

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Maratha-reservation-case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that 30 percent of the population of Maharashtra is Maratha and this cannot be compared with the marginal sections of the society. The court has made this remark, prohibiting the implementation of the law for reservation of education and jobs in the state for the Maratha community.

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The apex court stated that it was prima facie its opinion that the Maharashtra government did not state that there was any extraordinary situation for granting reservation to the Marathas outside the maximum 50 percent limit of reservation prescribed by the apex court in the Mandal case in 1992. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice S Ravindra Bhat said that the appointments in public services and government posts and admission to educational institutions during the academic session 2020-21 without implementing the law providing reservation for Maratha community Will be done.

The apex court said that while pending these appeals, the implementation of this state law of 2018 will cause irreparable damage to the general category candidates. The Maharashtra government enacted the Reservation in Education and Employment Act, 2018 for socially and economically backward classes in the Maratha community.

The Bombay High Court, in June last year, upheld the law, stating that 16 per cent reservation is not justified and instead there should be no more than 12 per cent reservation in employment and 13 per cent in admissions cases. The apex court passed the order on September 9 on the High Court’s order and the petitions challenging this law.

The Court said that the interpretation of the provision incorporated with the Constitution’s 102nd Amendment Act, 2018 is an important legal question and is related to the interpretation of the Constitution. Therefore, these appeals against the 2018 decision will be referred to the larger bench. The court said that the provision included through the 102nd Amendment Act of the Constitution to give constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes is not yet a considered decision or interpretation. In such a situation, these appeals need to be considered by the larger bench.

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