Maratha quota report: Chavan accuses Maha CM of rule wordplay

Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan Tuesday accused Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of interpreting the rules of the State Backward Class Commission as per his own convenience in connection with the report on Maratha reservation.

The state government and the opposition are at loggerheads over the tabling of the SBCC report on Maratha reservation in the legislature.

While the opposition has demanded that the report be tabled in the legislature, the state government is keen to place only the Action Taken Report (ATR) along with the bill to provide reservations to the Maratha community.

Speaking to reporters, Chavan said SBCC rules in Marathi specify that the "report" needs to be tabled along with the ATR in the House.

However, he added, the English translation of these rules state that the "annual report" and the ATR needs to be tabled.

"Fadnavis has conveniently chosen to use this loophole (difference in terminology in the two languages) in the rules for his own benefit. As per the Marathi translation of the rules, the word is 'report' and the state government, therefore, should table the report on Maratha reservations in the House," Chavan told reporters.

He said the Bombay High Court's order on November 14, 2014, staying the then Congress-NCP government's decision to provide 16 per cent Maratha quota, had also stressed the need for tabling such reports in the legislature.

The High Court, in its order at the time, had observed that the state government had not tabled the reports on Maratha reservation, prepared by the Bapat Committee and the Rane Committee, in the House.

"What does the chief minister want to hide by not tabling the report in the legislature? I fear the report could be rejected by the High Court," Chavan claimed.

Earlier in the day, Fadnavis rejected the opposition's demand to table the SBCC report on Maratha reservations in the state legislature.

"In Section 14 (of SBCC rules) it is stated that the annual report and ATR (Action Taken Report) on recommendations be placed before the House. The government is committed to giving reservation to the Maratha community and we will place ATR before tabling the (Maratha reservation) bill," Fadnavis said Tuesday.

On Monday, state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil had said that the bill for providing reservations to the Maratha community will be introduced in the legislature on November 29.