The Maharashtra Assembly on February 20 unanimously passed a Bill granting 10% reservation in education and government jobs to the Maratha community. While introducing the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Bill, 2024, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that he had fulfilled his promise to create a “foolproof” Maratha quota within three months.
However, activists such as Manoj Jarange Patil have claimed that the new legislation is a “betrayal” of the community and instead seek a Maratha quota carved out from the existing reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category. On the other hand, OBC leaders have raised concerns over the Marathas potentially eating into their share of the reservation pie.
The new legislation is similar to the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2018 introduced by the previous Devendra Fadnavis-led government, which the Supreme Court struck down in May 2021. This is the third time in the last decade that the State has introduced legislation for a Maratha quota. With the prior two bids failing to pass judicial scrutiny, Opposition parties have alleged that the new Bill was born out of political exigency ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and is likely to suffer a similar fate.
