Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde asked the state administration on January 2 to prioritise the survey work of the Maratha community and prepare a flawless report on time. The survey work was undertaken by the state Backward Class Commission.
CM Shinde said the state Backward Class Commission's survey is crucial in demonstrating the Maratha community's backwardness. This job should be prioritised by all divisional commissioners and district collectors. He made these remarks while speaking at the cabinet sub-committee meeting on the Maratha reservation.
Addressing the state legislative assembly, CM Shinde said that the commission was given the task of preparing a report to prove the social and educational backwardness of the Maratha community. The CM said that based on the report prepared by the commission, a special session of the state legislature will be held in February 2024. That session’s agenda would be to give reservations to the Maratha community.
In addition, the survey results may be utilised in the ongoing curative petition that is currently pending in the Supreme Court for the same.
The Maharashtra Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018, was struck down by the Supreme Court for exceeding the 50% reservation cap. He referred to this ruling and said the apex court pointed out several errors in that Act while striking it down. A perfect survey report covering the Maratha community is required, as we have filed a curative petition.
Shinde instructed the divisional commissioners and district collectors to make sure the questionnaires they received were completed correctly. He said that it is crucial that the report that we present now is accurate because the Supreme Court (SC) had raised multiple objections to the previous report.
State Backward Class Commission Chairperson Adv. (retired) Sunil Shukre recently held a meeting of all the district collectors. A questionnaire prepared by Pune’s Gokhale Institute was presented in front of everyone attending the meeting. The state government has sanctioned INR 367 crore for the commission.
In order to guarantee that old Kunbi (OBC) details are included, the cabinet subcommittee also instructed the administration to make sure that data related to Hyderabad be obtained as soon as possible, given that the Marathwada region was formerly ruled by the Hyderabad Nizam.
After the cabinet sub-committee meeting, Shinde met virtually with Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil. Manoj Jarange-Patil has threatened to go on a death fast starting on January 20 in Mumbai, demanding that the government grant Kunbi (OBC) status to Marathas in the state.
Jarange-Patil was reassured by CM Shinde that the government was working swiftly to fulfill his demands. Jarange-Patil also insisted that the cases against the Maratha protestors be dropped, along with the Marathas being granted Kunbi status.
Share
Tweet
