Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will address the state at 8:30 pm today (Wednesday). This comes after the Supreme Court, earlier in the day, struck down the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the Maratha community brought in by the state government in 2018.
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the top court, comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat pronounced its judgment today. It said that that people from the Maratha community cannot be declared as educationally and socially backward community to bring them within the reserved category. It added that there was no valid ground to breach 50 per cent reservation while granting Maratha reservation.
The bench was hearing a batch of appeals filed challenging the Bombay High Court order that upheld reservations to Marathas in jobs and education under Maharashtra Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018.
After the apex court’s verdict, Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting at his official residence with the senior ministers including Deputy Chief Ajit Pawar, Home Minister Dilip Wale-Patil, Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, and Public Work Minister Ashok Chavan.
A cabinet meeting was reportedly held at 3.30 pm to discuss the future course of action in the matter. “The government after consulting the law and judiciary department and its legal team will take a call on filing a special leave petition challenging today’s order. In the meanwhile, the Chief Minister has already directed the home department to take all possible measures to maintain law and order situation,” Maha Vikas Aghadi government sources told the Free Press Journal. The sources added that the government will also reach out to the opposition and various pro-Maratha organisations to take their views before taking further action.
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