Maharashtra Government Proposes 16 Per Cent Reservation For Maratha Community in Jobs, Education

The Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government on Thursday proposed 16 per cent reservation for Maratha community in jobs and education.

Mumbai: The Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government on Thursday proposed 16 per cent reservation for Maratha community in jobs and education.

“We’ve completed a due procedure for Maratha reservation report and we’re bringing a bill today. But for Dhangar reservation, we’ve not completed the report, a sub committee is appointed and soon a report and ATR will be tabled in this house,” CM Fadnavis said in state assembly.

Earlier in the day, the Shiv Sena and BJP issued a whip to their members to be present in their respective Houses, legislative assembly and legislative council, in view of the tabling of the bill.

Apart from the draft Bill, which provides for reservation to the Maratha community, a two-page action taken report (ATR) on the State Backward Class Commission’s (SBCC) recommendations on Maratha quota will also be tabled, a government source said.

On Wednesday, in the Legislative Council, Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil had said that the ongoing winter session may be extended, if needed, to pass the Bill. The winter session is scheduled to end on November 30.

The previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) coalition government had granted 16 per cent reservation to Marathas in jobs and education, but it was stayed by the Bombay High Court.

Now the Congress and the NCP have been demanding the tabling of reports of the SBCC recommending quota for Marathas and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ report on reservation to the Dhangar (shepherd) community.

The Cabinet sub-committee was formed last week to study the SBCC’s report on reservation for Marathas. The government had received the report on November 15 and it was placed before the Cabinet on November 18 for approval.

The Maratha community, which constitutes over 30 per cent of the state’s population, has been demanding a quota for a long time and its agitation for the same in July and August this year had taken a violent turn.