Mumbai: The Maharashtra government's plans for 16 per cent reservation for Marathas, ahead of the assembly elections, have run into legal trouble. A PIL has been filed in the Bombay High Court by activist Ketan Tirodkar.
The PIL says that Marathas are not a caste and they are a linguistic group. It says that they are a dominant community and not backward.
The PIL states the reservation is against the Supreme Court order which set a 50 per cent limit on quota. The Bombay High Court will hear the matter on Saturday.
The decision had also has led to a fresh round of fire between the Centre and Congress-NCP alliance in the state. The Prithviraj Chavan Cabinet on Wednesday gifted the state's Maratha population 16 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions. But the central government has interrupted in the matter saying the decision would be rejected by the courts.
Nejma Heptullah, Union Minorities Minister, called the move, which comes just months before the assembly elections, as vote bank politics. "Constitutionally it is not allowed, they know this reservation is going to be stopped by Court. This is clearly vote bank politics."
In retaliation Nawab Malik, NCP spokesperson, said that they are just fulfilling their promise. "Of course this is a decision taken with political motives, we are a political party and we had promised in our manifesto that we will provide reservations to Marathas and Muslims," Malik said.
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