The government cited the findings of a report submitted by the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes (MSCBC) as the basis for the reservation. The report stated that the Marathas account for 28% of Maharashtra’s population, and are in “exceptional circumstances and extraordinary condition” of backwardness, making it a fit case for reservation over the 50% ceiling mandated by the Supreme Court. The 10% quota is over and above the existing 62% reservation in the state, which includes 10% for those belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) and the remaining 52% caste-based quota.

The reservation in jobs and education for Marathas has become a five-year election plank — and it fulfils, yet again, a long-standing demand of members of the community, and no political party has been able to ignore these demands.

The first attempt at reservation was made by the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2014, just ahead of the Assembly polls. It was struck down by the Bombay high court immediately in November, soon after the polls.

The Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government passed a fresh bill in November 2018, just five months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, but it was short-lived as the Supreme Court stayed it in September 2020 and later quashed it in May 2021.

Most recently, chief minister Eknath Shinde’s three-party coalition government followed the footsteps of the earlier two governments while enacting a fresh law to accord 10% reservation to Marathas in jobs and education. However, like the previous two laws, the fate of this one enacted mere weeks before the Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections will be announced, is uncertain too. Here’s what happened in the past to the reservation laws enacted by different state governments.

Strike 1

In 2014, the Prithviraj Chavan government enacted a law to accord 16% reservation to Marathas and 5% to Muslims after the ruling Congress-NCP alliance faced a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections that were held barely a month before. The Congress-NCP alliance won barely six seats out of its tally of 26 seats before the polls. It was seemingly a last-ditch effort by the then ruling allies to save their government in the state.

A committee under the then state minister Narayan Rane, submitted its report on the status of Marathas in March 2014 recommending a 20% quota to the community. The Rane committee, which was formed in 2013, surveyed 550,000 families and 1.8 million people from the community to establish its backwardness. The state cabinet in June that year gave its nod to 16% and 5% reservation to Marathas and Muslims. The reservation was stayed by the Bombay HC in November; the SC, in December, refused to vacate the interim stay on the quota.

While staying the ordinance issued by the state government for quota, the Bombay HC observed, “The Maratha community is a resourceful community and there are no elements of backwardness.” The HC order also stayed the order on reservations for Muslims in government jobs but upheld reservations for Muslim students in government institutions saying it “wanted Muslim youths to come into the mainstream.” The HC faulted the government for the Rane committee report saying it “suffered from infirmities” and could not be relied upon.

The Congress-NCP government lost power in October 2014 despite according reservations to the Marathas, a community that always stood by the alliance.

Strike 2

Between August 9, 2016, and August 9, 2017, the Maratha community conducted 58 silent marches to push their demand for reservation. Devendra Fadnavis, who became chief minister in 2014, enacted a law in November 2018, months before the Lok Sabha elections the following year. The law granted reservations to Marathas and relied on an 11-member Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes report led by retired judge MG Gaikwad. The commission report of more than 1,000 pages was submitted in November 2018 and made a case for exceptional circumstances that would allow the Maratha community to fall within the exception carved out by the Supreme Court in its benchmark Indra Sawhney judgment that put a 50% ceiling on all quotas.

The category of “exceptional circumstances” was recognised but not delineated by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney judgement, research associate at the Centre for Policy Research and legal scholar Jai Brunner wrote in a 2020 article. “In establishing this 50% ceiling, the Bench briefly recognized that ‘exceptional situations’ may necessitate breaking it from time to time. However, it never defined a clear set of conditions. Rather, it speculated that ‘peculiar’ conditions in ‘far-flung’ and ‘remote areas’ may make ‘some relaxation in this strict rule…imperative’. It stressed that ‘extreme caution’ must be exercised when considering breaking the 50% ceiling.”

The survey of 43, 629 families in more than 175 tehsils across the state allotted 10 points to social, 8 to educational and 7 to economic backwardness. The total points added up to 40, and the report was able to make a case for the social, economic and educational backwardness of the community.

Based on this report, the BJP government enacted the legislation giving a 16% quota to Marathas in jobs and education. When challenged, it was upheld in the Bombay HC but the court reduced the quota to 12% and 13% in education and jobs, respectively.

The SC stayed the law and later quashed it in May 2021. The top court called the law unconstitutional and stated that the community was not socially and educationally backward. It also stated that breaching the 50% cap on quota was unacceptable and pointed questions at the Gaikwad Commission report for its failure to prove the backwardness. A review petition filed by the then Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition government led by Uddhav Thackeray government was turned down by the SC too.

Before it was stayed and quashed, the BJP-Sena combine that enacted the law in 2018, also saw a dip in its win in the Assembly polls held in October 2019, by over 20 seats.

Third time lucky?

In August 2023, Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil and other community leaders resorted to a hunger strike demanding the issuance of the Kunbi certificates to Marathas in central Maharashtra to facilitate their inclusion in the Other Backward Class quotas. The state government constituted a committee under the additional chief secretary of the revenue department to find records of Kunbi antecedents. It led to unrest among the OBC communities that were concerned about what they viewed as an encroachment by the Marathas. They opposed the issuance of the Kunbi certificates by finding new records in revenue machinery.

On September 1, 2023, the police hit Maratha protesters headed by Jarange-Patil in Antarwali Sarati in Jalna. This triggered aggressive protests by members of the community across the state. It offered steam to the protest demanding reservation and various Maratha communities extended their support to Jarange-Patil. By now, the state was in the third iteration of the government in as many years — a BJP-Shiv Sena (led by Eknath Shinde)-NCP (led by Ajit Pawar) coalition.

Shinde, who was the CM, directed the MSCBC-led by retired judge Anand Nirgude to collate empirical data on the backwardness of the Marathas. Amid differences with the government over the modalities and terms of reference to them, Nirgude and a few other members resigned from the post in November and December 2023. This prompted the government to appoint retired judge Sunil Shukre as its chairman. The MSCBC surveyed over 158,000 households from the open category between January 23 and February 2 and submitted its report to the government on February 16. Based on this report, the Shinde government enacted a new 10 % quota for Marathas in jobs and education.

Constitutional expert Ulhas Bapat said, “The 10% quota given by the Shinde government is unlikely to stand the legal scrutiny as the violation of the 50% cap is not acceptable and it has been clarified by various courts time and again. The courts would ask the government why it did not put the Marathas in the OBC quota if they were found socially and educationally backward? I do not think the claim of exceptional circumstances and extraordinary conditions of backwardness proven by the MSCBC would not stand in the court.”

Shinde government's act of enacting new law has not gone well with the OBCs who are upset with the state government — a fact that has no doubt worried the BJP.