Separate reservation for Maratha community is not permissible, as no exceptional circumstances are made out to exceed ceiling of 50% reservation
While determining matter related to reservation granted to Maratha community in Maharashtra State, Supreme Court held that “Merely because the occupation of posts is not equivalent to the proportion of the population of Maratha Community, it cannot be said that they are socially and educationally backwards.” Merely because the population of the backward class is 85% and the reservation limit is only 50%, this cannot be an extraordinary situation.
While analysing the Report of Gaikwad Commission regarding "inadequacy of Marathas in services under State it vehemently stated by Supreme Court that Fundamental error committed by Commission by examining entitlement of Maratha Community under Art.16(4) of Constitution of India. It examined entitlement on the concept of proportionate representation and not on adequate representation. Marathas are proved to be adequately represented in services hence the Gaikwad Commission report is unsustainable and specifically held that Grant of reservation is unconstitutional.
Three National Backward Classes Commissions and three State Backward Classes Commissions considered the claim of the Maratha community to be included in the other backward community but all Commissions rejected such claim rather they were held to be belonging to the forward community. Kaka Kalelkar Commission did not include the Maratha commission in the list of backward communities. The Commission observed: "In Maharashtra, besides the Brahman, it is the Maratha who claimed to be the ruling community in the villages and the Prabhu that dominated all other communities. The second National Backward Classes Commission, i.e., Mandal Commission in its report included the Maratha community as a forward Hindu community. The National Backward Classes commission held that the Maratha community is an advanced community of the society and it cannot be included with Kunbi under a separate entity of its own.
The Gaikwad Commission in its report does not dispute that Maratha is a politically dominant class and they have adequate and sufficient representation in the public services. Representation of Maratha in public services is present in all categories i.e. Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D posts, and the Marathas have occupied the posts by competing with open categories. The representation of Marathas has in many grades about 30% against all filled posts of open category. When a community can compete with open category candidates and obtain a substantial number of seats (about 30%). Percentage of IAS, IPS and IFS of Maratha out of the posts filled from open category candidates comes to 15.52, 27.85 and 17.97 per cent respectively. Marathas occupied all categories of posts, including Head of Department, Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor, in several Universities.
In this background, S.4(1)(a) of Maharashtra State Reservation (of seats for admission in educational institutions in the State and appointments in the public services and posts under the State) for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act 2018 granting reservation to extent of 12% of total seats in educational institutions, including private institutions whether aided or unaided by State and other than minority educational institutions, is declared ultra vires to Constitution and struck down.
Appearing Counsel/s : Shri Arvind P. Datar, Shri Shyam Divan, Shri Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Shri Pradeep Sancheti, Dr. Rajiv Dhawan, Shri Sidharth Bhatnagar, Shri B.H. Marlapalle, Shri R.K. Deshpande, Dr. Gunratan Sadavarte, Shri Amit Anand Tiwari, Shri S.B. Talekar, Shri Amol B. Karande, Shri K.K. Venugopal, Shri Tushar Mehta, Shri Mukul Rohatgi, Shri Shekhar Naphade, Shri P.S. Patwalia, Shri Kapil Sibal, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shri Manish Kumar, Shri Karan Bharihok, Dr. Manish Singhvi, Shri C.U. Singh, Shri Sudhanshu S. Choudhari, Shri V. Shekhar, Shri. Hrishikesh Chitaley, Shri. Ashwin Deshpande, Shri S. Niranjan Reddy, Shri Shekhar Nephade, Shri Jayanth Muth Raj, Shri Jaideep Gupta,
