Bombay High Court sets up special bench to hear pleas against Maratha reservation

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday constituted a three-judge special bench to hear the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the law providing Maratha reservation following a Supreme Court directive.

The 2024 law, which provided 10 per cent reservation in education and government jobs to the Maratha community that constitutes nearly one-third of Maharashtra's population, had been at the forefront of political discourse last year during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

In a notice issued on Friday, HC said a full bench comprising Justices Ravindra Ghuge, N J Jamadar and Sandeep Marne is constituted to hear and decide the public interest litigations and petitions related to the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2024.

The notice, however, does not mention or specify a date on which the bench would hear the pleas.

Last year, a full bench headed by former HC Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya had commenced hearing into a bunch of petitions challenging the law on the ground that the Marathas were not a backward community that requires benefits of reservation.

The pleas also claimed that Maharashtra has already crossed the 50 per cent cap on quota.

However, the hearing came to a standstill after CJ Upadhyaya was transferred to Delhi High Court in January this year.

On May 14, the Supreme Court directed the Bombay HC to constitute a special bench and urgently hear the matter.

The apex court direction came in a petition by students appearing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate and postgraduate exams of 2025.

The petitioners argued that the delay in adjudication of the matter was adversely impacting their right to fair and equal consideration in the ongoing admission process.

In March last year, when the petitions against the reservation were filed, the HC in an interim order had said that applications for NEET 2024 admission to undergraduate medical courses, wherein a 10 per cent reservation granted to members of the Maratha community is applicable, would be subject to further orders in the pleas challenging the law.

On April 16, 2024, the full bench also clarified that until further orders, any applications for admissions to educational institutions or jobs at government authorities taking benefit of the impugned Act will be subject to further orders in the present proceedings.

The SEBC Act, according 10 per cent quota for the Maratha community, was passed by the then chief minister Eknath Shinde-led government on February 20 last year.

It was formulated based on a report of the retired Justice Sunil Shukre-led Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) that found “exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations exist” to grant reservation to Maratha community in excess of 50 per cent total reservation in the state.

Thereafter, petitions also challenged Shukre's appointment as MSBCC chairperson.

In December 2018, a batch of petitions was filed in the Bombay HC challenging the earlier SEBC Act of 2018 that granted Marathas 16 per cent reservation in government jobs and education.

The HC later upheld the 2018 Act but reduced the quota to 12 per cent in education and 13 per cent in government jobs.

This was challenged in SC, which in May 2021 struck down the whole Act.

A review petition filed by the Maharashtra government was also rejected by the apex court in May 2023.