Bombay HC sets up special bench to hear pleas against Maratha reservation

The Bombay High Court on Friday constituted a threejudge special bench to hear the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the law providing Maratha reservation following a Supreme Court directive reported news agency PTIThe 2024 law which provided 10 per cent reservation in education and government jobs to the Maratha community that constitutes nearly onethird of Maharashtras population had been at the forefront of political discourse last year during the Lok Sabha and Assembly electionsIn a notice issued on Friday HC said a full bench comprising Justices Ravindra Ghuge N J Jamadar and Sandeep Marne is constituted to hear and decide the public interest litigations and petitions related to the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act 2024 reported PTIThe notice however does not mention or specify a date on which the bench would hear the pleas against the Maratha reservationLast year a full bench headed by former HC Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya commenced hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the law on the ground that the Marathas were not a backward community that requires benefits of reservationThe pleas also claimed that Maharashtra has already crossed the 50 per cent cap on quotaHowever the hearing came to a standstill after CJ Upadhyaya was transferred to Delhi High Court in January this year reported PTIOn May 14 the Supreme Court directed the Bombay HC to constitute a special bench and urgently hear the matterThe apex court direction came in a petition by students appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test NEET undergraduate and postgraduate exams of 2025The petitioners argued that the delay in adjudication of the matter was adversely impacting their right to fair and equal consideration in the ongoing admission processIn March last year when the petitions against the reservation were filed the HC in an interim order had said that applications for NEET 2024 admission to undergraduate medical courses wherein a 10 per cent reservation granted to members of the Maratha community is applicable would be subject to further orders in the pleas challenging the law reported PTIOn April 16 2024 the full bench also clarified that until further orders any applications for admissions to educational institutions or jobs at government authorities taking benefit of the impugned Act will be subject to further orders in the present proceedingsThe SEBC Act according 10 per cent quota for the Maratha community was passed by the then chief minister Eknath Shindeled government on February 20 last yearIt was formulated based on a report of the retired Justice Sunil Shukreled Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission MSBCC that found exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations exist to grant reservation to the Maratha community in excess of 50 per cent total reservation in the state reported PTIThereafter petitions also challenged Shukres appointment as MSBCC chairpersonIn December 2018 a batch of petitions was filed in the Bombay HC challenging the earlier SEBC Act of 2018 that granted Marathas 16 per cent reservation in government jobs and education reported PTIThe HC later upheld the 2018 Act but reduced the quota to 12 per cent in education and 13 per cent in government jobsThis was challenged in SC which in May 2021 struck down the whole ActA review petition filed by the Maharashtra government was also rejected by the apex court in May 2023With inputs from PTIatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params