The Bombay High Court has been approached with multiple petitions challenging the Maharashtra government’s move to issue Kunbi caste certificates to members of the Maratha community, enabling them to claim reservation benefits under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
Two fresh petitions have been filed, while another petitioner, Manoj Sasane — chairperson of the OBC Welfare Foundation — sought to amend his earlier plea against Maratha inclusion in the OBC list to also contest the government’s latest resolution. The bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad is expected to take up the matter in due course.
The pleas contend that the government resolution (GR) is “arbitrary, unconstitutional and politically expedient.” One of the petitions alleged that the state was contradicting its own stance on Maratha reservation and had acted merely to “placate” the politically influential community.
Advocate Vinit Vinod Dhotre, in a PIL, argued that extending OBC status to Marathas was discriminatory towards existing backward classes. The PIL alleged that genuine OBCs would be deprived of their rightful share of reservation if Marathas were included.
Another petition by Shiva Akhil Bhartiya Veershaiva Yuvak Sanghatana highlighted reports of the State Backward Classes Commission and the National Backward Classes Commission, both of which had concluded that Marathas and Kunbis were distinct groups. “The government could not have once again endeavoured to propagate that Marathas and Kunbis were one and the same,” the plea stated.
On Wednesday, Sasane mentioned his plea before the bench led by the Chief Justice, seeking permission to challenge the latest GR. The court asked him to formally move an application for amendment. Sasane’s earlier petition had challenged multiple government orders dating back to 2004 that allowed Marathas to obtain Kunbi certificates.
The petitions have sought quashing of the impugned GRs and an interim stay on their implementation.
The government’s resolution followed quota activist Manoj Jarange’s indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan, which brought parts of south Mumbai to a standstill and drew criticism from the High Court. On September 2, the state issued a GR based on the Hyderabad gazetteer and set up a committee to facilitate issuance of Kunbi certificates to Marathas who could produce historical records identifying them as Kunbis.
