Maratha quota based on unsound findings: Petition

Mumbai: The state’s decision to grant 16 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and educational institutes was based on unsound findings, petitioners opposing the reservation told the Bombay high court Thursday. The submission was made by advocate Pradeep Sancheti, appearing for petitioner Sanjeet Shukla.

Advocate Sancheti told a bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre that the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, which had recommended reservation for Marathas, had relied upon survey results of a small sample size i.e. only 43,000 people belonging to the Maratha community.

Hence, the commission’s findings did not reflect the condition or social status of the entire Maratha community which constituted around 30 per cent of the total population of the state.

Advocate Sancheti also argued that the Marathas historically belonged to the warrior class and most of them presently held government jobs, or were employed in the Army. By saying that they were equivalent to Kunbis and therefore, qualified as OBCs, the commission was bringing down the community, he argued.

“They are not socially backward. And the fact that the commission's conclusion is based on the survey of such a small sample size, means that its findings cannot be held accurate or sound,” he said.

Advocate Sancheti also cited a 2015 judgment of the apex court that a politically organised group like the Cats could not be included in the OBC list.

“The apex court held at the time that the purpose of caste- and community-based reservation was to give a helping hand to those who were backward or downtrodden. However, in the present case, by granting reservation to a community which is not socially backward, the state is relegating the community to a place among those who are really backward," he said.