Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 5: Protests erupted in different parts of Maharashtra on Wednesday after the Supreme Court struck down the Maharashtra law that held the Maratha community as socially and economically backward, thereby ending the Maratha reservation in educational admissions and government jobs.
The SC order prompted the state government to decide to approach the Centre to restore it the Maratha reservation quota since while striking down the law the SC observed that the right of giving reservation to any community was with the Centre after the 102nd constitutional amendment.
Hours after the SC quashed the 2018 law framed by the Maharashtra government to give reservation to the Maratha community, the state government announced it will send a proposal to the Centre, seeking quota, even as the opposition BJP blamed it for the apex court verdict.
Stating that the apex court took the action as the state enacted the law without having powers to do so, in the wake of the 102nd constitutional amendment, which granted constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government said that it will send the proposal to commission for reservation on the ground of “exception and extraordinary circumstances”.
While quashing the reservation quota the SC also quashed the Maratha reservation in so far it breaches the 50% ceiling of reservation. The top court, while nixing the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018, said it violates equality as under Article 14 of the Constitution.
The five-judge Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat, pronounced the verdict on Wednesday. The bench had earlier on March 26 reserved judgment in the case after a back-to-back hearing for 10 days.
Soon after the verdict was announced, protests erupted in different parts of Maharashtra, with the Maratha Kranti Morcha calling it an “unfortunate” decision and the BJP seeking a special Assembly session to discuss the issue.
On Wednesday, the top court was hearing petitions challenging an earlier Bombay high court order which upheld the Maratha quota in 2019 and had ruled that the 50% cap on total reservations imposed by the Supreme Court could be exceeded in exceptional circumstances. Justice Ashok Bhushan said, “Neither the Gaikwad (Gaikwad Committee which had recommended Maratha reservation) nor the submissions have made out any situation for exceeding the 50% reservation ceiling for Marathas. Therefore, we find there are no extraordinary circumstances for exceeding the ceiling. The Act for granting reservation has not made any circumstance for granting reservation to the Maratha community.”
The Maharashtra Public works department minister and head of Cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation Ashok Chavan said, “The Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act 2018 was enacted in state legislature in November 2018 by then Devendra Fadnavis government, months after the 102th Constitutional amendment in August that year. The SC today said the constitutional amendment took away the state’s rights of giving such reservation and hence it was set aside.”
Chavan said since the SC has clarified that the right of giving reservation to any community is with the Centre, the state government will approach the Centre for it.
“We will approach the NCBC with our report on the backwardness of the Maratha community. We will establish the ‘exception and extraordinary circumstances’ to show the backwardness of the community and send the proposal to the Centre. Now it is the responsibility of the Centre to accord reservation to the community,” he said.
Chavan said that the top court has not ruled against reservation given by other states, such as Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, as those were given before the 102th constitutional amendment.
Minority affairs minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik said the Centre should immediately appoint NCBC “so that it can make recommendation for reservation to the Marathas.”
However, Opposition leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said MVA government has been now attempting to blame the Centre and previous state government to cover its own failure. “The Maratha quota law was enacted by our government by taking Uddhav Thackeray into confidence as Shiv Sena was part of our government then. Solicitor General of India had clearly told the SC that states’ right to provide quota had not been taken away,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis has also demanded that the state government appointed a committee of senior legal experts from the Supreme Court and high courts to find ways to win the reservation back.
The chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said the SC order striking down the reservation quota was “unfortunate”. He also urged the Prime Minister and the President to take an urgent decision on the matter of granting reservation to the Maratha reservation.
The state may not have a right to take a decision on the matter as the apex court has said but the Centre and the President can take a call, Thackeray said. “With folded hands, I request the Prime Minister and the President to take an urgent decision. Earlier, the Centre had taken quick decisions on the Atrocities Act in connection with the Shah Bano case and on the abrogation of Article 370. It also made necessary amendments in the Constitution then. Now, the same promptness should be shown regarding the issue of Maratha reservation,” said Thackeray.
Thackeray further said that the decision to grant reservation to Marathas was taken based on recommendations of the Gaikwad committee and all political parties in the state legislature had unanimously agreed on it.
The deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar also said that the SC decision was “unexpected and disappointing”. “We will study the verdict and take an appropriate decision on the matter,” he said.
Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said, “This is nothing but a complete failure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government as it failed to convince the Supreme Court. Demanding that a special Assembly session should be held to discuss the matter, he added, “Not just the fact that the government failed to convince the court, there was also confusion within its ranks as well…Its lawyers were seeking postponement of hearings in the Supreme Court while pointing out that their client (the state government) has not briefed them properly.”
MP Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje, who has been leading the community’s fight for reservation, said, “The verdict is unfortunate but the Maratha community will accept it as it has come from the highest court of the land.”
Calling for restraint from the community, Sambhajiraje added, “The state and the central government should find a way out of this. If other states could get reservation above 50 per cent, why can’t Maharashtra get it? We need to find out the loopholes and approach the court once again. We are going through a difficult period now. We have to save lives and therefore I urge people to observe restraint.”
Sambhajiraje, however, did not hold the state government responsible for the apex court verdict going against the Marathas. “While the earlier state government fought for upholding the law in high court, the present government has been also putting up a fight. Even the central government had also intervened into the matter,” he said.
Maratha coordinator Vinod Patil, who was one of the respondents in the case, said, “It is a very unfortunate decision. It is going to have far-reaching consequences not only in Maharashtra but also in other states.”
