Sources in the department said the minister has sent the file to the AG for review. The latter, however, has yet not responded.
Keen to give benefit to thousands of students who took admission under the Maratha reservation, education minister Vinod Tawde has asked the state advocate general (AG) to look into the possibility of allowing concessional fees to them for the entire programme despite there being a stay on the reservation.
Within months of the government announcing reservation for Marathas, the Bombay High Court had put a stay on the decision.
Sources in the department said the minister has sent the file to the AG for review. The latter, however, has yet not responded.
The state has time and again maintained that those candidates who already got admission under the quota will continue to avail benefits. Over 15,000 students have got admission into second year engineering courses under the Maratha quota. Tawde has repeatedly said, "These students will be allowed to complete their course."
In June 2014, in what was called an obvious pre-poll measure, the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra had granted 16% reservation to Marathas in jobs and education, along with 5% for Muslims, over and above the existing 52% reservation given to different backward caste groups in the state. The move was stayed five months later by an interim order from the HC, a stay that has remained even after both Houses of the state legislature cleared the bill granting 16% reservation to Marathas last March.
The new BJP-led government is still fighting for quota for Marathas.
To prove its stand in the court on the issue, Tawde has even asked the General Administration Department to submit a detailed report on the number of Marathas employed in government offices and corporations across the state. The government has also asked the archives directorate to find out some "evidence" in history books that can prove the state's stand in court, that Marathas need reservation.
The archives directorate has also been asked to look into the literature of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and also the gazettes of early 20th century when Shahuji Maharaj was the ruler of Kolhapur. Sources claimed that there were some specific speeches made by Ambedkar that mentioned Marathas as backward. The archives department has been successful in retrieving some such speeches.
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