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The Maratha community is not backward and hence it does not require reservation in government jobs and education, a petitioner argued before the Bombay high court on Wednesday.
A full bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya, Justices GS Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla started hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the Maharashtra government's February 2022 decision to grant 10 percent reservation to the community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class category.
As an interim relief, the petitioners have sought a stay to appointments in government departments or admissions to educational institutes under the quota.
Senior counsel Gopal Sankaranarayana, appearing for one of the petitioners, on Wednesday submitted that the issue had been already decided by the Supreme Court.
"The Supreme Court has in May 2021 quashed the (earlier) reservation granted to the community. There has been no change in the status of persons from the Maratha community since 2021 to merit reservation," he said.
"It is unfortunate that every time we (petitioners) have to come to court because the government wants to placate a particular community which is very powerful," advocate Sankaranarayana further said.
The government has been time and again claiming that the Maratha community is backward, but this was not the case, he argued.
"Members of the Maratha community have been in the mainstream of society and are dominant in politics. They are a forward community and hence do not require reservation," Sankaranarayana said.
The senior lawyer further claimed that the data on which the government relied to grant fresh reservation under the SEBC category was the same as that in 2021.
"Data is the same. Unless some mysterious collapse has taken place in the last 36 months (since May 2021 judgment of SC) that requires its revisiting the reservations, there is no reason for granting reservation," Sankaranarayana added.
The state government provided a quota to the Maratha community under the SEBC category in 2022 after the SC set aside the earlier reservation granted to the community on the ground that it led to the overall reservation in Maharashtra breaching the ceiling of 50 percent.
The state witnessed a fresh agitation for Maratha quota, led by activist Manoj Jarange, last year.
The hearing on the interim reliefs sought by the petitioners will continue on April 15.