Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced Monday that the government had formed an advisory board of retired judges to look into the Maratha reservation issue that has snowballed into violent protests across the state with one lawmaker’s house set on fire earlier in the day.
Shinde said the government would accord reservation to the Maratha community under two schemes – one, via Kunbi caste certificates and the second on the basis of economic backwardness that will undergo legal scrutiny.
The chief minister said a committee under Justice (retired) Sandeep Shinde had already filed a preliminary report on the Kunbi matter, which will be presented to the Cabinet on Tuesday.
The Kunbi caste certificates would be issued to descendants of those recorded as part of the Kunbi subcaste during the pre-Independence Nizam era so that they can get quota under the Other Backward Class category.
Shinde made these announcements after a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation Monday, called to immediately pacify the irate community.
Shinde said the sub-committee has decided to form an advisory board under three retired judges — Justice (First Name) Bhosle, Justice (First name) Gaikwad and Justice Sandeep Shinde. The chief minister also said these judges would advise the government on its curative petition before the Supreme Court – to restore the 16% quota granted to Marathas by the state in 2018 which the apex court crushed three years later.
Shinde added: “Along with this, we will also collect empirical data with the help of the Backward Classes Commission… so that we can tell the Supreme Court how backward the Maratha community is.”
The face of the protests, Manoj Jarange Patil, is presently on a hunger strike until death, demanding reservation for the Maratha community.
From his protest site at Antarwali-Sarati, Jarange-Patil said: “They (the government) have accepted the first report of the (Shinde) committee. But they must give reservation to all Marathas. Till then I will not stop the protest.”
Jarange-Patil also said he was looking forward to the outcome of a district collectors’ meeting called by the state on Tuesday.
Two state’s reservation plans
The government has submitted a curative petition in the Supreme Court where Maratha reservation was struck down in May 2021, with judges terming the state law granting 16% quota in admissions and government jobs as “unconstitutional”.
The chief minister on Monday cited Justice Shinde committee’s first draft to reveal that 1.72 crore documents had been collected so far, and 11,530 had evidence to support Kunbi eligibility.
“The committee has time till December to find more but we have asked them to further expedite the process,” Shinde added.
Shinde appealed to the community to hold back the protests, affirming that the government was serious about quota to Marathas.
He also said members of the Cabinet sub-committee would meet Manoj Jarange-Patil on Tuesday to discuss the matter, and to persuade him to drop the hunger strike.
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