MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) to file its affidavit in reply to the petitions challenging reservation granted to the Maratha community. A full bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla had last week issued a notice to the commission, which is headed by retired high court judge Sunil Shukre.
Based on the commission’s report, the Maharashtra government had granted reservation to the Maratha community.
Attorney General R Venkatramani and advocate Saket Mone appeared for the commission and sought time to file the affidavit.
The court granted the commission time till July 26 to file its affidavit and posted the petitions for further hearing on August 5.
The court had earlier this month commenced the final hearing on the petitions.
Last week, one of the petitioners sought to impleade the commission as a respondent in the matter as some of the petitions had challenged the commission’s report also.
The Maharashtra government had in February this year granted 10 per cent reservation to the Maratha community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) category in government jobs and education.
Before the government’s decision, the commission had submitted a report on its survey on the social, economic, and educational backwardness of the Maratha community. The massive exercise covered nearly 2.5 crore families.