'Justify breaching 50% limit for Maratha quota'

HC says apart from backwardness, govt has to give strong reasons to go beyond threshold set by top court

- Urvi Mahajani

The Bombay High Court (HC) on Tuesday said that other than showing backwardness of Marathas, the state government will have to justify breaching the 50% limit laid down by the Supreme Court, while granting 10% quota to the community in government jobs and educational institutions.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya, and Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla asked the government to justify its move behind the Maratha reservation, while hearing a batch of anti-quota petitions. The law granting 10% reservation to the community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class category was passed on February 20 by the state legislature based on the report by the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC). The Governor's notification was subsequently issued on February 26.