State to submit quota report to high court

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed the state government to submit the backward class commission’s report at the next hearing. The court was hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the 16 per cent reservation for Marathas.

The direction comes on the back of petitioners repeatedly seeking the report. They said they could not argue without the report. On the other hand, the state government said that a part of the report was very controversial and if published, would create a law and order problem. The court said that next Wednesday, it would decide whether the petitioners should get the entire report or truncated version.

On Wednesday, government counsel V.A. Thorat and state advocate general Ashutosh Kumbha-koni expressed apprehensions over giving the entire report to the petitioners. “We are ready to submit the entire report, running into 4,000 pages, to the court. However, there are some 20 pages in the report pertaining to the Maratha community’s history, which we do not wish to place in the public domain. We fear it would create communal tension and a law and order problem,” said AG Kumbhakoni.

A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Bharti Dangre directed the state government to submit the entire report to the court on Wedne-sday, January 28. Justice More said, “We will peruse it and then decide on January 28 whether the petitioners should get the entire report or a truncated version.”

“We will start the final hearing on the pleas from February 6. The state government shall till that date continue its statement that no appoin-tments would be made,” the court said.