Mumbai: The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill providing 10 percent reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs. The draft bill was approved at the cabinet meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ahead of the special session of the Assembly.
Following the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill 2024 in the House during the day-long special session of the Legislature on the Maratha quota. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government had called the special session of the Legislature to discuss the reservation issue.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, said, "A bill giving 10% reservation in education and jobs to the Maratha community in the state was passed in the Maharashtra Legislature today. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, we are all and the grand coalition government is consistently working for all sections of the society."
"That is why today has dawned. I express my sincere thanks to all the Members of both Houses, the Leader of the Opposition, and all the group leaders for passing this Bill unanimously. Backward Classes Commission has also worked hard and completed the survey for this in time, I am also thankful to the commission. We also thank the officers and employees involved in this work. Lasting reservation for the Maratha community was the priority even earlier and the same resolve is still there today. We have also given this word from the beginning that we will not snatch any element and give it to someone else, and we have worked to wake up to that word. We also stand firmly with the OBC community in the state," added Fadnavis.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray welcomed the Maratha Reservation Bill and said that he would not question the Maharashtra government today as the bill pertains to education and jobs. Speaking to the reporters, Thackeray also congratulated the Maratha people who made sacrifices for the Maratha reservation.
"After studying the bill, the government tabled it, and it was passed and will stay in court too. I'm happy and we appreciate the government. I congratulate the Maratha people and many people gave their sacrifice for this Maratha reservation," Thackeray added.
NCP founder Sharad Pawar said the draft of the Maratha quota bill passed by the Maharashtra Legislature was similar to the earlier legislation which could not stand the legal scrutiny, and added that the Supreme Court will decide the fate of the fresh bill.
"The draft of the bill cleared by the state legislature today is the same as that of the one presented before the apex court. We need to see what happens to the fresh bill in the Supreme Court," Pawar, a former Maharashtra Chief Minister, said.
The special session was announced by the government after the continuous protest by Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil. The bill for the Maratha reservation also proposed that once the reservation comes into effect, its review could be taken after 10 years.
The special session was called on the demand of Jarange Patil. Jarange Patil renewed his stir to demand reservation for Marathas as he started an indefinite hunger strike on February 10. Jarange Patil demanded that Marathas should be given Kunbi certificates.
The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government recently issued a draft notification which said if a Maratha person has documentary proof to show that he or she belongs to the agrarian Kunbi community, the person's 'sage soyre' or blood relatives too would get Kunbi caste certificates.
The Kunbi community falls in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, and Jarange has been demanding that Kunbi certificates be issued to all Marathas.
The Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission on Friday submitted a report on its survey on the social, economic, and educational backwardness of the Maratha community. The massive exercise covered nearly 2.5 crore families.
The Bill tabled by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde states that the population of the Maratha community in the state is 28 percent.
As per the Bill, out of the total Maratha families that are below the poverty line, 21.22 percent hold the yellow ration cards. It is higher than the state's average of 17.4 percent. T
The Maharashtra government's survey undertaken between January and February this year also found that 84 percent of the Maratha community families do not fall under the progressed category, hence they are eligible for reservation as per the Indra Sawhney case. Meanwhile, OBC members are staging a protest against the reservation to Marathas from the OBC quota. (With agency inputs)
