Maratha quota: SC tells HC Chief Justice to form new bench to hear pleas swiftly
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to constitute a new bench to hear pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the law providing Maratha reservation in an expeditious manner.
The pleas were not heard after the then Bombay HC Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya's transfer as the CJ of Delhi HC in January this year.
Justice Upadhyaya was a part of a full or three-judge bench, which since April, last year, had been hearing the pleas against the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) Act, 2024 that provided 10 per cent reservation in education and government jobs to Maratha community. The petitioners' arguments had concluded on October 14, 2024.
The 2024 law, which provided 10 per cent reservation in education and government jobs to the Maratha community that constitutes nearly one-third of Maharashtra's population, had been at the forefront of political discourse last year during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
On May 13, an SC bench of Justices B R Gavai (who assumed office of Chief Justice of India on May 14) and Augustine George Masih was hearing a plea by students appearing for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate and postgraduate exams of 2025.
The students claimed that the delay in disposal of the matter was impacting their right to fair and equal consideration in the admission process and sought a stay on implementation of the 2024 Act. The bench noted that similar challenges to the law were pending before the HC and directed Chief Justice Alok Aradhe of Bombay HC to constitute a new bench to hear the pleas. The SC also directed the HC to consider the issue of interim relief as raised by the petitioner students at the earliest.
The Act passed on February 20, 2024 was formulated by the then chief minister Eknath Shinde-led government based on a report of the Justice Sunil B Shukre (retd)-led Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) that found 'exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations exist' to grant reservation to Maratha community in excess of 50 per cent total reservation in the state. The petitions also challenged Justice Shukre's appointment and the action of the state government to implement the panel's report.
On March 8, 2024, a division (two judge) bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Firdosh P Pooniwalla passed an interim order 'in the interest of justice', stating that the applications for NEET 2024 for admission to undergraduate medical courses, wherein a 10 per cent reservation granted to members of the Maratha community is applicable, will be subject to further orders in the pleas challenging the law.
Thereafter, a three-judge bench led by then CJ Upadhyaya along with Justices Kulkarni and Pooniwalla was constituted to hear the batch of pleas.
On April 16, 2024, the full bench clarified that till further orders, any applications for admissions to educational institutions or jobs at government authorities taking benefit of the impugned Act will be subject to further orders in the present proceedings.
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