Mumbai: A day after the Maharashtra government gave the green signal for granting reservations to Maratha community in the state, the Bombay High Court on Monday said it would hear the petitions pertaining to the issue on Wednesday. A division bench of Justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Sarang Kotwal said it would hear the petition filed by activist Vinod Patil on Wednesday.
This comes after Patil’s counsel mentioned his petition before the bench, seeking an urgent hearing. He mentioned his matter in the backdrop of the recent development, wherein the government has okayed reservation for the community. Patil has urged the bench to direct the government to place on record (of the court) the report submitted by the eight-member State Backward Class Commission (SBCC) to it, last week. He had initially petitioned the high court in December 2017.
Through his plea, Patil had sought urgent hearing and disposal of the reservation matter pending before the HC so that students from the Maratha community could benefit from the proposed reservation. The government, through a notification, had constituted the eight-member SBCC on January 4, 2017.
This panel was formed to look into the voluminous data placed by the government in its affidavit to support the decision of erstwhile Congress-led government, granting 16 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and education.The HC had, in March last year, said it would hear the bunch of petitions for and against the reservation decision, only after the commission had submitted its report.