News Analysis India

Tag: Maratha community

  • Maratha quota supporter and ex-MLC Vinayak Mete dies in accident on Mumbai-Pune Expressway

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Shiv Sangram party leader and former member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Vinayak Mete was killed after a vehicle hit his car on Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday morning, officials said. He was 52.

    Mete was a staunch supporter of reservation for the Maratha community. The accident took place at 5.05 am near Madap tunnel under the jurisdiction of Rasayani police station in neighbouring Raigad district, the officials said.

    Mete, another person and his driver were in the car while they on way to Mumbai from Pune, he said. A vehicle hit their car near the Madap tunnel and all of them received serious injuries, the official said. They were rushed to a private hospital in Navi Mumbai where Mete was declared dead, he said.

    A doctor who checked on Mete at the MGM Hospital in Panvel later told reporters that the leader was brought to the hospital in a seriously injured condition.

    “He was brought in at 6.20 am. He had no pulse or blood pressure, and his pupils were not moving. He died before being brought to the hospital. We even performed an ECG (electrocardiogram), but it showed a flat line (indicating no heart movement),” the doctor said.

    The former MLC, who hailed from Beed district of Marathwada region, was a supporter of Maratha reservation. Mete is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

    Maharashtra minister and former state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said Mete’s death came as a shock to them. “He was genuinely following up the issue of Maratha reservation. It is a huge loss for us and the Maratha community,” Patil said.

    Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar also expressed grief on Mete’s death. “His focus was more on social issues than political ones. He was more of a social activist than a political leader,” Pawar told a TV channel.

    “It is a huge shock for us. He was earlier also part of the NCP. He pursued the demand of reservation for Marathas in education and government jobs,” Pawar said.

    Congress leader and former chairman of a Maharashtra sub-committee on Maratha reservation Ashok Chavan said, “It is unfortunate to lose a leader like Mete. Despite we being in different political parties, Mete and I were almost on the same page over the issue of Maratha reservation in the state.”

    In 2008, Mete and some other activists of his outfit had attacked the Thane-based residence of Kumar Ketkar, the then editor of a Marathi daily, to protest an editorial in the newspaper against the then state government’s decision to install a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Mahraj in the Arabian Sea.

    MUMBAI: Shiv Sangram party leader and former member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Vinayak Mete was killed after a vehicle hit his car on Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday morning, officials said. He was 52.

    Mete was a staunch supporter of reservation for the Maratha community. The accident took place at 5.05 am near Madap tunnel under the jurisdiction of Rasayani police station in neighbouring Raigad district, the officials said.

    Mete, another person and his driver were in the car while they on way to Mumbai from Pune, he said. A vehicle hit their car near the Madap tunnel and all of them received serious injuries, the official said. They were rushed to a private hospital in Navi Mumbai where Mete was declared dead, he said.

    A doctor who checked on Mete at the MGM Hospital in Panvel later told reporters that the leader was brought to the hospital in a seriously injured condition.

    “He was brought in at 6.20 am. He had no pulse or blood pressure, and his pupils were not moving. He died before being brought to the hospital. We even performed an ECG (electrocardiogram), but it showed a flat line (indicating no heart movement),” the doctor said.

    The former MLC, who hailed from Beed district of Marathwada region, was a supporter of Maratha reservation. Mete is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

    Maharashtra minister and former state BJP president Chandrakant Patil said Mete’s death came as a shock to them. “He was genuinely following up the issue of Maratha reservation. It is a huge loss for us and the Maratha community,” Patil said.

    Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar also expressed grief on Mete’s death. “His focus was more on social issues than political ones. He was more of a social activist than a political leader,” Pawar told a TV channel.

    “It is a huge shock for us. He was earlier also part of the NCP. He pursued the demand of reservation for Marathas in education and government jobs,” Pawar said.

    Congress leader and former chairman of a Maharashtra sub-committee on Maratha reservation Ashok Chavan said, “It is unfortunate to lose a leader like Mete. Despite we being in different political parties, Mete and I were almost on the same page over the issue of Maratha reservation in the state.”

    In 2008, Mete and some other activists of his outfit had attacked the Thane-based residence of Kumar Ketkar, the then editor of a Marathi daily, to protest an editorial in the newspaper against the then state government’s decision to install a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Mahraj in the Arabian Sea.

  • Maharashra govt to announce sops to pacify Marathas

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: To avoid a backlash from the electorally-significant majority Maratha community over cancellation of the reservations, Uddhav Thackeray government has decided to announce various sops to the community. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that they are ready to call the special session to decide on various schemes, sops and alternate arrangement for the Maratha community now that reservation has been struck down by the Supreme Court.

    “The government is with the Maratha community. It is very unfortunate that the Supreme Court rejected the reservations for the Maratha community despite all-party resolutions giving reservations to the Maratha community. Once this pandemic is over, we will have a meeting with Maratha community leaders where the decision of giving various benefits to Maratha students will be finalized. We will extend all possible benefits that can compensate them,” Ajit Pawar said.

    Senior BJP leader Ashish Shelar said all leaders should keep aside their egos and work for the welfare of the Maratha community. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray said that the Supreme Court in its judgment said that the state government has no right to give the reservations to any caste and community. He said the court further said that only the Centre can give reservations. “We urge teh Prime Minister to give reservations to the Maratha community,” he said, putting the ball in Centre’s court.

  • SC strikes down Maratha community reservation for exceeding 50% cap

    The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the Maratha community brought in by the Maharashtra government in 2018, saying it exceeded the 50 per cent cap imposed earlier.

    A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat in its judgment said that that people from the Maratha community cannot be declared as educationally and socially backward community to bring them within the reserved category.

    Justice Bhushan said, “With respect to Article 342 A, we have upheld the Constitutional Amendment and it does not violate any Constitutional provision and therefore, we have dismissed the writ petition challenging the Maratha Reservation.”

    The Supreme Court in its judgment said that there was no valid ground to breach 50 per cent reservation while granting Maratha reservation.

    The bench was hearing appeals 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.

    The High Court, while upholding the Maratha quota, held that 16 per cent reservation is not justifiable and ruled that reservation should not exceed 12 per cent in employment and 13 per cent in education as recommended by the State Backward Commission.

  • SC judgment on Maratha reservation evokes mixed response from community leaders

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The Supreme Court judgment calling Maratha quota in excess of 50% ceiling limit as unconstitutional has come as a major setback to the Maratha community. The apex court unanimously held that there were no exceptional circumstances justifying the grant of reservation to Marathas in excess of 50% ceiling limit as a Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC).

    Maratha leader and BJP Rajya Sabha member Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati said that this is an unfortunate judgment for the community, adding that the community protested in a peaceful manner. “The Supreme Court judgment is against the sentiment of the community. There is anger against the court order, but we should not dishonour the judgment of the Supreme Court. All sections of the Maratha protested and demanded the reservation. If the reservation was given, the poor Maratha can get an education and jobs in government. It would have helped alleviate the poverty in the debt-ridden community,” the BJP MP said.

    “We are speechless. Both the government BJP and Maha Vikas Aghadi presented the side of the community but court struck down this demand of the community.”

    The court said, neither the Gaikwad Commission nor the High Court has made out any situation for exceeding the ceiling of 50% reservation for Marathas. “Therefore, we find there are no extraordinary circumstances for exceeding the ceiling”, Justice Ashok Bhushan, the presiding judge, read out the operative portion of the judgment.

    The bench struck down the Maharashtra SEBC Act to the extent it held Marathas as a socially and economically backward class as violating the principles of equality. However, it clarified that the judgment will not affect the PG Medical Admissions under Maratha quota made till 09.09.2020.

    Pravin Gaikwad, president of Maratha youth organisation Sambhaji Brigade said that the court has rightly struck down the demand of the community saying the reservations cannot be given more than a 50% ceiling limit. Gaikwad said that the central government should identify Maratha as part of the Other Backward Class. “Maratha and Kunbi are the same. Marriage and other things take places between two groups of the Maratha community. One group is given OBC reservation while the other deprived, this is not fair. The state and central should work together and find out the way for the major community of Maharashtra,” Gaikwad said.

  • Centre must take positive steps for Maratha quota: Maharashtra minister Ashok Chavan

    By PTI

    AURANGABAD: The Union government should think of “positive steps” like bringing in a Constitutional amendment to ensure the Maratha community in Maharashtra gets reservations, Congress leader and state minister Ashok Chavan said on Friday.

    The Supreme Court is likely to hear the Maratha reservation case on March 8. In a video message, he said the Centre, while keeping its stand in the apex court, had a “great chance to take positive steps and support Maratha reservation”.

    Chavan said that the Centre brought in a Constitutional amendment for quota for economically weaker sections (EWS), and it can do the same for Maratha reservation. “Ministers from the state should request Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this,” Chavan added.

  • Maratha quota: Maha sets up ‘war room’ to fill vacant posts

    The Maharashtra government has set up a ‘war room’ at the state secretariat complex here to complete the mega recruitment process as per the new caste reservation quota.

    An official said the government may complete the process of recruitment for all the 72,000 posts at one go before February, instead of filling 36,000 posts spread over two years.

    A bill that grants 16 per cent reservation to the members of the Maratha community in government jobs and education in Maharashtra was unanimously passed by both the Houses of the state legislature last week, meeting a long-pending demand of the influential community, which constitutes 33 per cent of the state’s population of around 13 crore.

    “The idea is to fill the posts before the Bombay High Court stays the decision. It will help the ruling party get Maratha votes in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls scheduled in 2019,” the government official said.

    In the last budget session of the state legislature, Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced that 72,000 vacant posts will be filled in two phases.

    The vacant posts to be filled are spread across departments like Agriculture, Public Health, Home, Animal Husbandry, Public Works Department, Water Resources, Water Conservation, Fisheries and Urban Development departments.

    On Wednesday, the government set up a war room on the seventh floor of the state secretariat to handle the mega recruitment process smoothly. The first meeting of all the departments concerned was held there.

    The senior official who attended the meeting said the government was keen on finishing the process of recruitment as soon as possible.

    “However, it would depend on the Information and Technology (IT) department, which will play a key role in the process,” he said.

    “The process of filling up of all 72,000 posts will be started now. It is scheduled to be completed before the Lok Sabha code of conduct comes into effect and before a possible stay by the high court,” he added.

    The state may issue an order delegating the powers to fill few posts at the ground level by the district collector or tehsil to save time, he added.

    Meanwhile, the state general administration department (GAD) Wednesday issued a government resolution stating that Marathas would be able to get 16 per cent reservation in the remaining 48 per cent posts in the open category and no share of 16 per cent in 100 per cent vacant posts.

    “This means that Marathas would get only 8 per cent reservation of the existing 52 per cent reservation,” the official said.