The Bombay High Court Friday reserved its judgment while hearing a bunch of petitions contesting the state Cabinet’s July 9 decision of reserving 16 per cent and 5 per cent seats in government jobs and educational institutions for Marathas and Muslims. The state government has justified its quota decision in the HC. Petitioner Ketan Tirodkar earlier produced statistics to claim that 75 per cent of sugar cooperative factories and 75 per cent of the educational institutions in the state were owned by the Maratha community. He alleged that 75 per cent of the land were owned by the Maratha population. State’s Advocate General Darius Khambata justified the government’s decision to provide for reservations for Marathas and Muslims, saying they were socially and economically backward. About the Maratha community, he said the decision was based on a report of committee headed by senior minister Narayan Rane, which had gone into the issue. Muslims, he said, too were socially and economically backward. The state had earlier filed an affidavit justifying its decision of offering reservation to the Maratha community, contending that reservations had been given twice in the pre-independence era but were withdrawn post-independence. The affidavit further contended that 16 per cent reservation for the community in jobs and educational institutions was made on the basis of “compelling and quantifiable” data. When the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, also known as Justice R M Bapat Commission, submitted its report in 2008, the state realised the Commission had not properly dealt with the data, statistics and information submitted by various representing parties, the affidavit said.
