Maharashtra government forms three-member committee on Maratha reservation issue

Mumbai: As protests mounted across Maharashtra demanding reservation for the Maratha community, the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance government has formed a three-member panel of judges to advise on the issue even as Manoj Jarange-Patil reiterated that nothing short of a concrete quota would be accepted.  

The three-member panel of judges are - Justice Dilip Bhosale (Retd), Justice M G Gaikwad (Retd) and Justice Sandeep Shinde (Retd). 

Justice Gaikwad had headed the committee that recommended reservation to Marathas in jobs and education by according them the status of Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC).

Justice Bhosale, a retired  Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court, was earlier appointed to study the Supreme Court  judgment cancelling quota for the Maratha community and had submitted it to the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.

Justice Shinde is currently heading the committee to determine the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), including legal and administrative framework, for giving caste certificates to the Kunbi community. 

The decision was taken at the meeting of the sub-committee headed by Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil. 

Looking at the gravity of the situation, Shinde presided over the meeting. 

The two Deputy Chief Ministers could not attend as Devendra Fadnavis is in Chhattisgarh while Ajit Pawar is recovering from dengue. 

"We have formed an advisory board on the subject of Maratha reservation, which would give suggestions to the government in respect of the curative petition that we have filed in the Supreme Court,” Shinde said, adding that the three judges are aware of the issue.

Justice Anand Nirgude (Retd), the Chairman of Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission (MSBCC), was also present in the meeting.

“Along with this, we will also collect empirical data with the help of the Backward Classes Commission in the entire state,” said Shinde. 

Shinde also informed that the first report of the Shinde Committee has been submitted with the Maharashtra government which has been given an extension of two months to submit the final report. “We will discuss the report in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday,” he said. 

Besides Shinde and Patil, the crucial meeting was attended by ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Dilip Walse-Patil, Girish Mahajan, Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraj Desai, Uday Samant and Deepak Kesarkar.