Multiple petitions in Bombay High Court challenge Maharashtra’s decision to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas, calling the move “arbitrary, unconstitutional and politically expedient.” Petitioners argue it will deprive genuine OBCs of their rightful share of reservation.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has recently been approached with multiple petitions questioning the Maharashtra government’s move to issue Kunbi caste certificates to members of the Maratha community.
This decision would allow Marathas to claim reservation benefits under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
According to court records, two fresh petitions have been filed, while another petitioner, Manoj Sasane, chairperson of the OBC Welfare Foundation, has sought to amend his earlier plea.
Sasane’s earlier petition had challenged government orders passed as far back as 2004, which allowed Marathas to obtain Kunbi certificates. Now, he also wants to contest the government’s latest resolution.
The division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad is expected to hear the matter in due course.
The petitions argue that the Maharashtra government’s resolution, also called the Government Resolution (GR), is “arbitrary, unconstitutional and politically expedient.”
One of the petitions claimed that the state was going against its own earlier stand on Maratha reservation and had acted merely to “placate” the politically influential community.
In one Public Interest Litigation (PIL), Advocate Vinit Vinod Dhotre strongly argued that extending OBC status to Marathas was unfair to the existing backward classes.
He said that if Marathas are added to the OBC list, then genuine OBC communities would be deprived of their rightful share of reservation.
Another petition, filed by the Shiva Akhil Bhartiya Veershaiva Yuvak Sanghatana, pointed to findings of both the State Backward Classes Commission and the National Backward Classes Commission.
The petition stated that these reports had made it clear that Marathas and Kunbis were not the same community.
As the plea explained,
“The government could not have once again endeavoured to propagate that Marathas and Kunbis were one and the same.”
On Wednesday, petitioner Sasane mentioned his case before the bench led by the Chief Justice. He requested that he be allowed to amend his earlier plea to include a challenge to the new GR. The court, however, asked him to make a formal application for amendment.
All the petitions filed so far have sought the quashing of the government’s resolutions and have also demanded an interim stay on their implementation.
The government’s latest move came soon after strong protests by quota activist Manoj Jarange, who had launched an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai. His protest had caused major disruption in parts of the city and even drew criticism from the Bombay High Court.
In response, the state government on September 2 issued a GR. It relied on references from the Hyderabad gazetteer and also set up a committee to facilitate the issuance of Kunbi certificates to Marathas.
This process applies only to those who can produce historical records identifying their families as Kunbis.
The issue of Maratha reservation has long been politically and legally sensitive in Maharashtra. With these new petitions, the matter will once again come under close judicial scrutiny as the High Court examines whether the government’s latest resolution can withstand constitutional and legal challenges.
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