The Maharashtra government on Friday filed a caveat in the Supreme Court with regard to Maratha reservation, a day after the quota got a stamp of approval from the Bombay High Court.
It meant that any appeal filed against the High Court 's judgement of June 27 would not be heard without giving the state government a chance to place its arguments. The caveat on behalf of the state government was filed by advocate Nishant R Katneswarkar.
The HC had upheld quota for Maratha community members in jobs and education but said it should not exceed 12 to 13 %.
It had maintained that the 16 % reservation approved by the state legislature was not justifiable.
Besides the state government, some private persons who were parties before the high court also moved the top court with their separate caveat.
Notably, the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission has recommended reservation to the Maratha community. Subsequently, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government created a special category of Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) to provide reservation.
A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising justice Ranjit More and justice Bharti Dongre said that the state government's competence is not affected anyway by the 102nd amendment of the Constitution.
"The state possesses legislative competence to enact SEBC Act of 2018 and provide reservation to Maratha community," the judges observed.