Mumbai: The Bombay High Court will commence final hearing of a bunch of petitions, in favour and against the 16 per cent reservation to Maratha community in government jobs and education, from February 6. The HC has also asked the Maharashtra government not make any appointment in any of its departments under the new legislation till February 6.
A bench of Justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre, will also on January 28 decide whether the petitioners in all these petitions, can be given the full copy or a truncated version of the report submitted by the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission (MSBCC).
This comes after senior advocate V A Thorat and state Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, expressed apprehensions over giving the entire report to the petitioners. The government counsels apprised the bench of the fact that nearly 20 pages of the total 4000-page report, pertain to the history of the Marathas and making the same public, would create communal tension.
At this, the judges asked the government counsels to furnish a copy of the said report to them by Wednesday evening and they would peruse the same. “Once we go through the report we will decide if it can be handed over to the petitioners, as a whole,” the judges said. “We will start the final hearing into the petitions from February 6. The state government shall till then continue its statement that no appointments would be made,” Justice More said.
The remark was made in response to the statement made by the government on a previous hearing that it will not make fresh recruitments under the new 16 per cent quota till January 23. However, on Wednesday, the government changed its stand, saying, “There is a massive backlog of vacancies in government jobs which needs to be filled immediately. We will make appointments, but they shall be subject to final orders in these petitions.”
Interrupting the submission, Justice More said, “If you are not willing to continue with your statement, we will have to pass orders and ensure no fresh recruitments are made under this category.” Accordingly, the government agreed and said it will not recruit anyone till February 6, the next date of hearing. The bench was seized with a bunch of petitions led by advocate Sanjeet Shukla challenging the November 2018 government decision to grant 16 per cent reservation to Marathas.