Quota to "backward" Marathas not to hit SC limit hurdle: Patil

Maharashtra Minister Chandrakant Patil Monday said once the Marathas have been classified as "backward" by a commission, there will not be any hurdle in raising the quota limit beyond 50 per cent set by the Supreme Court.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis Sunday said the Maharashtra government has accepted the State Backward Class Commission's report and decided to give quota in jobs and educational institutes to the Maratha community.

The reservation will be granted to the community under a new category called 'Socially and Educationally Backward Class' (SEBC) as per the recommendation of the commission, he said.

Quantum of reservation has not been fixed yet, he said.

Maratha groups are demanding 16 per cent reservation, which if accepted, will breach the 50 per cent quota ceiling set by the apex court.

Patil said, "There were multiple commissions set up by the state, but none granted backward status to the Maratha community, which constitutes around 30 per cent of the states 11 crore population."
Asked about any legal hurdle in implementing quota for the community, he said, "Once the commission has admitted that Marathas are backward, then there will not be any obstacle of the Supreme Court defined framework of keeping the reservation under 50 per cent of the total seats."