Maharashtra govt scraps 5 pc Muslim quota under SEBC category

The BJP-led Mahayuti government, through a Government Resolution (GR) issued late Tuesday night, revoked the quota for Muslims that applied to admissions in educational institutions, and recruitment in government and semi-government services.

The background

In 2014, the then Congress-NCP Democratic Front government had extended 5 per cent SEBC reservation to Muslims in education, semi-government and government jobs through an ordinance. It created a political stir and ran into trouble and the ordinance never went on to become a law.

It faced legal challenges in in the Bombay High Court, which issued a stay on November 14, 2014. Also, by that time the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance defeated the Congress and NCP in the 2014 Maharashtra polls. The Supreme Court too invalidated the quota while hearing a Special Leave Petition against the HC order.

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As the ordinance was not passed into law by the legislature by December 23, 2014, it lapsed.

Ending a legal limbo

Therefore, the government resolution issued yesterday just formalises the null and void status of the reservation for Muslims, putting an end to the legal limbo.

Now, after 12 years, the Devendra Fadnavis-led dispensation has revoked the quota under the SBC-A category, bringing closure to the issue.

Political reactions

Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad strongly condemned the move, saying the government had “dealt a severe blow to the rights of the Muslim community.” She argued that instead of taking positive steps to implement the 2014 quota for education and employment, the government had simply scrapped the process, citing the high court’s interim stay and the lapsing of the ordinance.

“On one hand, they talk of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and on the other, they close the avenues for obtaining necessary documents for reservation. Isn’t this hypocrisy?” Gaikwad asked, adding that the government had “pushed backward sections of society back into darkness.”

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Meanwhile, AIMIM Maharashtra chief Imtiaz Jaleel described the decision as a sarcastic “Ramadan gift” to Muslims. He urged students not to lose hope, saying, “We will still urge our boys and girls not to drop out. If India studies, India will progress.”

Meanwhile, NCP (SP) leader and national spokesperson Clyde Crasto slammed the move saying, “The BJP-led Maharashtra Government's decision to revoke 5 per cent reservation to socially and educationally backward Muslims proves that BJP does not value Muslim leaders of BJP and their allies. It also shows that these Muslim leaders are incapable of getting justice from BJP for their own.”