Maratha reservation: A saga of half a century

As the Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed a bill reserving 10% for the Maratha community in education and government jobs, here is a timeline of events.

Mumbai:  The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council, on Tuesday, unanimously passed a bill providing 10 per cent reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the Maharashtra State Socially and Educationally Backward Bill 2024 in the House during the day-long special session of the legislature on Maratha quota, following which the bill was passed.

Here is a timeline of events leading to the historic Bill being tabled in Assembly:

1980: The demand for reservation for Marathas gathered steam after the submission of Mandal Commission Report

March 1983: The first  morcha in Mumbai demanding reservation to Marathas was led by late Annasaheb Patil from Satara, a leader of the Mathadi workers

February, 2014: A committee headed by veteran leader Narayan Rane submits report to erstwhile Prithviraj Chavan-led Congress-NCP Democratic Front government recommending reservation to Marathas.

June 25, 2014: The Congress-NCP Democratic Front government, then headed by Prithviraj Chavan, approves  a proposal to reserve 16 per cent of government jobs and seats in educational institutions for Marathas and 5 per cent for Muslims.

November 14, 2014: Bombay High Court stays the decision of the erstwhile Democratic Front government to provide 16 per cent reservations to Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions.

November 15, 2014: BJP-Shiv Sena government headed by led by Devendra Fadnavis decides to move Supreme Court

December 18, 2014: Supreme Court  refuses to vacate the Bombay High Court's interim order staying reservation for Maratha in jobs

July 13, 2016: Rape and murder of a Maratha girl at Kopardi in Ahmednagar district that fuels the demand of rights of the community

August 9, 2016-2017: As many as 58 massive Maratha morchas held across the state in a year's time

2017: A 11-member commission headed by Justice M G Gaikwad (Retd) recommended Marathas should be given reservation under Socially and Economically Backward Class

November 15, 2018: Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission Chairman Justice (Retd) NG Gaikwad submits report to government

November 18, 2018: Government decides to create a special category of Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) for reservation to Marathas

November 29 2018: Maharashtra legislature clears 16 per cent reservation to Marathas.

June 27, 2019: Bombay High Court upheld Maratha reservation but says 16 per cent not justifiable

July 29, 2019: The Supreme Court agreed to consider urgent hearings to the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law. A bench headed by the then Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of the submissions.

May 5, 2021: Supreme Court strikes down Maratha reservations when the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government was in power.

November 2022: After the Supreme Court upheld the 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), the state government said that until the issue of Maratha reservation is resolved, economically weaker members of the community can benefit from the EWS quota.

August, 2023: Shivba Sanghatana founder Manoj Jarange-Patil starts hunger strike demanding issuance of Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas in Marathwada region.

October 7, 2013: The Maharashtra sets up a Committee headed by Justice Sandeep Shinde (Retd) to find out record entries of Maratha Kunbi and Kunbi Maratha and to formulate procedure to issue certificates, which would enable them to avail reservation under OBC category (So far, 57 lakh records have been found)

October 12, 2023: The Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government files a curative petition in the Supreme Court.

October 30, 2023: Government forms  three-member panel of judges are - Justice Dilip Bhosale (Retd), Justice M G Gaikwad (Retd) and Justice Sandeep Shinde (Retd) to advise on how to go ahead with the curative petition

January 26, 2024: The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government widened the scope of Maratha reservation by way of issuance of Kunbi certificates and secure benefits under OBC quota by defining ‘sage-soyare’, a Marathi term for ‘relatives from the family tree.

February 16, 2024: Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC)  headed by Justice Sunil Shukre (Retd) submitted the report of  its survey on the social, economic, and educational backwardness of the Maratha community. (The massive survey-exercise covered nearly 2.5 crore families)

February 20, 2024: Maharashtra legislature unanimously approves a Bill to give 10 per cent reservation to jobs and education to Marathas.