Bombay High Court to hear pleas challenging Maratha reservation February 6 onwards

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said that it will start hearing pleas for the petitions challenging the grant of 16 per cent reservation to members of the Maratha Community granted by the Maharashtra government from February 6.

Senior Counsel VA Thorat appearing for the state, was informed by the court to not issue any appointment letters to those appointees under the reserved category for Maratha Community, until the next date of hearing, i.e February 6.

A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Bharati Dangare directed the state government to submit by evening today, the full report of the Backward Class Commission, that recommended the grant of reservation, after which it would decide on whether to provide a complete or masked copy to the petitioners. The state has opposed the giving of full report to the parties as it contains sensitive information. The bench said, "We would go through the report and accordingly, decide on the same by Monday," confirming that it would hear the pleas for at least three days on a daily basis February 6 onwards.

Last week, the state government filed an affidavit opposing the petitions stating that it was ultimately the responsibility of the government to maintain equality and social justice by giving reservation to socially and educationally backward class.

The government importantly has clarified that the ceiling of 50 per cent reservation imposed by the Supreme Court cannot be made applicable to all the states, relying on a judgment of the apex court in another case. The plea will be further heard on Monday, January 28.