New Delhi, September 9: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the previous BJP government's law providing reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and educational institutions. A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhat also referred the pleas challenging the validity of the 12 percent quota for the Maratha community in jobs and admissions to educational institutions to a larger bench for final adjudication. Maratha Quota Case: Maharashtra Govt Tells Supreme Court That No New Hiring Till September 15.

The apex court's stay order will have an impact on this year's admission process as no seats will be reserved for those who belong to the Maratha community. However, admissions to post-graduate courses will not be affected and seats will be reserved for Marathas. The stay order came during a hearing of pleas challenging the Maratha reservation, which takes reservation in the state over the 50 percent ceiling.

Ahead of the 2014 Maharashtra assembly elections, then Congress-NCP government had granted the Muslim community a 5 percent reservation, while giving a 16 percent quota to Marathas, by promulgating an ordinance in 2014. The ordinance was challenged in the Bombay High Court which partially struck down it. The High Court only allowed a quota for Muslims only in government educational institutes, taking into consideration the community’s educational backwardness. Muslim Reservation in Educational Institutes Soon, Says Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik.

However, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena came to power, they refused to grant the quota to Muslims, but passed a bill granting quota in government jobs and education to Marathas. The Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018 was enacted to provide quota to the Maratha community in jobs and educational institutions.

In June 2019, the Bombay High Court had upheld the reservation and held that 16 per cent reservation was not justifiable, and that instead, the quota should not exceed 12 per cent in employment and 13 per cent in educational institutions admissions. Subsequently, the Maharashtra government in July this year passed a bill bringing down reservation for the Maratha community.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 09, 2020 03:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).