With the Supreme Court on Saturday admitting the curative petition filed by the Maharashtra government on Maratha reservation, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde described it as a big relief while stating that his government would take all efforts to ensure reservation for the community. The move was also hailed by members of the Maratha community. ''Manoj Jarange-Patil will not have to stage an agitation again. The Supreme Court has admitted our curative petition and will hear it on Janauary 24,'' the Chief Minister told a Marathi news channel. “The curative petition was filed by our government. We had worked hard for two months on it. Our efforts have yeilded result. I want to thank the Supreme Court for giving us an apportunity to present our side on Maratha reservation,'' he said. Shinde said the government will appoint a battery of lawyers to argue in favour of Maratha reservation. ''We will prove the social backwardness of the Maratha community in Maharashtra," he said. The Chief Minister said in 2018, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government provided reservation to the Maratha community. ''The reservation was upheld in the Bombay High Court during Fadnavis' regime. However, during the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, it was rejected by the Supreme Court," he said. "Whatever observations the Supreme Court had made, whatever deficiencies it had pointed out, our government and our team of expert lawyers have worked on them and will present the arguments in court," he said. Urging the Maratha community to maintain peace, Shinde said, ''We are committed to ensuring reservation for Maratha community. We will make all efforts to get justice for the community from the Supreme Court. We all have one motto, to get reservation for Maratha community and therefore, we should show restrain and have patience.'' Vinod Patil, coordinator of Maratha Kranti Morcha, who had also filed a curative petition, said, ''My curative petition was first admitted by the Supreme Court and then the curative petition of the state government. It is a big development for the Maratha community. I can cite two big cases--the Bhopal gas tragedy and the Delhi bomb blasts case--where the Supreme Court had admitted the curative petitions and upturned its own judgments. There are four-five major cases where the curative petitions were admitted and the petitioners succeeded in getting a positive verdict.'' Patil said the Supreme Court had rejected the Maratha reservation in 2021 and later, also dismissed the review petition filed by the Maharashtra government. ''After the review petition is dismissed, the curative petition is filed. The SC admitting the curative petition gives the government a big opportunity to address the objections and observations of the apex court and get justice for Maratha community,'' said Patil.
