Maratha quota: Give copies of entire backward class panel report to petitioners, says Bombay HC
The state government had contended that certain portions of the report would create communal tension and law-and-order problems in the state.
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the state government to give copies of the entire report of the Backward Class Commission on reservation for the Maratha community to petitioners who have challenged the government’s decision, PTI reported.
Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre said the state government was unduly worried that certain portions of the report would create communal tension and law-and-order problems, pointing out that “there is nothing worrisome” in the document.
One of the petitioners – advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte – had filed a plea in November, claiming that the government’s move to grant 16% reservation to the community in jobs and education was in contravention of a Supreme Court directive that caste quotas should not exceed 50% of the total seats.
The Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed the bill providing reservation for the community on November 29. On December 10, the High Court asked the government if it was willing to make public the report of the backward class commission, on whose recommendations the legislation had been introduced.