
The Supreme Court, in an interim order Wednesday, ruled that Maratha quota will not be applicable in jobs and admissions this year. The court has also referred the matter to the Chief Justice of India to constitute a larger bench for further hearing.
However, the bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said that admissions already made under the quota in post-graduate medical courses will remain unaffected.
The apex court was hearing petitions challenging the Maharashtra law that provides reservation to Marathas in jobs and admissions.
The petitions had challenged the Bombay High Court order of June 2019 which, while upholding the law, had also held that 16 per cent reservation was not justifiable and added that the quota should not exceed 12 per cent in employment and 13 per cent in admissions to government-run educational institutes. The High Court in its verdict had relied heavily on findings of the 11-member Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC). In its reports submitted on November 15, 2018, the MSCCC had said that the Maratha community is socially, economically, and educationally backward.
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The Supreme court had earlier adjourned the hearing with the state undertaking not to make any fresh recruitments till September 15, 2020.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and P S Patwalia, appearing for the state government, had told a bench of Justices L N Rao, Hemant Gupta, and S Ravindra Bhat that the state had already decided by way of a Government Resolution on May 4 that no fresh recruitment will be made.