A special session of the state legislature will be held in February 2024, if necessary, to provide reservation to the Maratha community after reviewing a report of the Backward Class Commission, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told the assembly in Nagpur on Tuesday.
Shinde also said directives will be issued to give the Kunbi caste certificates to blood relatives of a person who already possesses similar documents.
He was speaking during a discussion on the reservation issue, explaining the steps taken by the government so far. Opposition MLAs, however, claimed that the assurance was not concrete enough and staged a walkout from the House.
"The Justice Shinde Committee set up on the issue of Maratha quota has submitted its report to the state government. The report of the Maharashtra Commission for Backward Classes will be submitted in a month. After reviewing it, if required, we will convene a special session of the legislature in February to provide reservation to the Maratha community," the chief minister said.
"The state government will establish that the Maratha community is socially and educationally backward (and hence deserves reservation in government jobs and admissions to educational institutions)," he said.
The state government received the Justice Shinde panel report, which runs into 407 pages, on Monday and forwarded it to the Law and Judiciary department for scrutiny, Shinde added.
He said once the Kunbi caste certificate is issued to blood relatives of a person possessing similar documents, the certificate will be uploaded on the state website for verification.
"This will bring transparency in the procedure. We will try to ensure that ineligible persons don't get this certificate," he said.
Speaking to reporters in Jalna, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange said Marathas will not wait till February and protests would be launched if the reservation is not granted before December 24.
The chief minister questioned the methodology used by Justice Gaikwad (retd), who headed the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, in recommending reservation to Marathas (five years ago).
"The overall reservation percentage in Maharashtra for various communities is 52 per cent. The Gaikwad panel compared the presence of Marathas in jobs and services under the 48 percent open category.
"Had the comparison been made with the overall job-holders at that time, it would have emerged that Marathas are under-represented. In that case, the reservation granted to Marathas during the tenure of then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis (2014-19) could have been upheld by the Supreme Court," Shinde said.
The Supreme Court has decided to conduct an open hearing on the curative petition filed by the state government on the Maratha quota, he said.
The apex court in 2021 quashed the Maharashtra law granting reservations to Marathas in admissions and government jobs.
Shinde said the Maratha community will get a proper share in progress through reservation.
In a veiled attack on former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde said, "The previous head of the state understood the opinion of the Maratha community but failed to understand their mind".
He said many people have ended their lives for the Maratha (quota) demand.
"There was a chance during the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations for reservation benefits," Shinde said.
He also said the state is expecting some cooperation from neighbouring Telangana which is said to have some records of the Kunbi community.
Opposition MLAs walked out in protest after the CM's statement.
The reply was an eyewash and Shinde did not give any concrete assurance or take a concrete stand which was expected before December 24, said leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly Vijay Wadettiwar, senior Congress leaders Prithviraj Chavan, Ashok Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray's Sunil Prabhu and others spoke to the media afterward on the Vidhan Bhavan premises.
Wadettiwar said the chief minister's reply was deceptive, and there was no concrete promise, nor did the government give any timeframe for resolving the issue.
Would the government say anything definite on December 24, the date by which it had promised to resolve the issue earlier, the Congress leader said, adding that the Shinde government had left the Marathas, OBCs as well as the Dhangar community high and dry.
Ashok Chavan echoed Wadettiwar's claim that the government wanted to drag out the issue till the code of conduct was in force.
"We all were anxious and expecting that the state government would make clear its stand on the Maratha reservation before December 24. We cooperated with the government, and we wanted to put forth our stand on the issues raised by the government. But, we were not allowed to speak and the Speaker did not act impartially," the former chief minister said.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Jayant Patil said the chief minister did not give a reply to the serious issues raised by the opposition and has failed to decide before December 24. The talk of the special session was an eyewash, he said.
While a section of the Maratha community including activist Manoj Jarange is pressing for the inclusion of the community in the OBC category, OBC leaders including senior minister Chhagan Bhujbal are opposed to the proposal.
Speaking to reporters in Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna district, Jarange said, "We will not wait for reservation till February. We are firm on launching protests from December 24 if the state government fails to clarify its stance on enacting the law (for quota) and doesn't issue the order to collectors for the issuance of Kunbi certificates to all Marathas".
