Bombay High Court Decides To Implead Backward Commission In Pleas Challenging Maratha Reservation

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay made the MSBCC a respondent to the bunch of petitions challenging the SEBC Act which grants reservation to the Marathas.

"We allow impleadment of the Commission. We also issue notice to the Commission, made returnable on July 10," the bench also comprising Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla said in their order.

The bench was seized with two interim applications filed by Advocates Subhash Jha and Gunratan Sadavarte, both seeking to make the Commission a party to the proceedings. The duo contended that the Commission is a necessary party to the petition as it was the Commission's report, based on which, the State formulated the SEBC legislation to grant reservation to the Marathas.

Their prayers were backed even by the State government through Advocate General Birendra Saraf, who maintained that the Commission being the expert body, would be in a better position to explain their report as all the petitioners have attacked the report, the methodology, the findings and also the data included in the report.

The bench therefore, permitted the petitioners to implead the MSBCC as a party respondent to the petitions. The bench also ordered the MSBCC to make an appearance before it on July 10, after which it would be ordered to file it's response to the petitions.

Notably, the SEBC Act was passed on February 20 this year and notified by the State government on February 26, based on a report from the Justice Shukre-led Commission. The report cited "exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations" as justification for granting reservation to the Maratha community, exceeding the 50 percent total reservation limit in the state.

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