Maratha Reservation | Community Exceptionally Backward As Many Practise Superstition, Get Daughters Married Before 18-Yrs Age: MSCBC Tells Bombay HC

Justifying its recommendation for providing reservations to the Maratha Community, the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes (MSCBC) on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that the community has been pushed to the 'dark edges' of the mainstream society and that the Marathas continue to get their daughters married before completing 18 years, and also practice superstition.

The MSCBC, which is headed by former HC judge Justice (retd.) Sunil Shukre was ordered to file an affidavit responding to various petitions that punched holes in the Commission's report, based on which the Maharashtra government granted reservation to the Maratha Community.

Accordingly, the Commission on July 30, filed its affidavit in the High Court stating that the Marathas were "exceptionally" backward.

The affidavit filed by one Asharani Patil, Member Secretary of the MSCBC, pointed out that marrying girls before they attain 18 years, undermining the dignity of women and practising superstition is significantly high in the Maratha community.

"At least 30 per cent of families routinely follow customs/practices which lower down the esteem of women in those families. At least 5 per cent of men and at least 10 per cent of women in excess of State average marry at the age earlier than permissible age." the affidavit highlights.

The social indicators such as perceived backwardness on caste and traditional occupation as well as current occupation, the higher engagement in manual labour by both men and women in the community, higher number of suicide incidences show the 'lack of opportunities' for the community to improve their standing in the social order, the affidavit stated.

"The analysis of the social backwardness indicated that till date certain practices which are known to be superstitious are followed in large number in the Maratha community. It was equally evidenced from the data examined by the MSCBC that the women folk from the Maratha community are still undermined and neglected within the family unit. The occupational identification of the Maratha community was considered as secondary and / or uncountable in the social hierarchy in the State. Thus, it was observed that the Maratha community was being looked down upon," the affidavit highlights.

On the basis of the educational indicators, the MSCBC found that the Maratha community had attained lower levels of education as compared to the open category, especially in terms of completing secondary education and achieving graduate, and post-graduate degrees and professional courses. It was found that the economic data highlights the significant disparities in the living conditions, land ownership and financial obligations between the Maratha and the open category.

The data revealed that the Maratha community showed a higher rate of poverty, more significant reliance on kachha pucca houses and a higher percentage of consumption loans, etc.

"It was found that there was exceptional backwardness among the Maratha community. The backwardness had to be viewed as something exceptional and beyond ordinary for the reason that in a high economic growth society like India, the normal trend would be progressive in all aspects but in case of Maratha community it is not so. There was an even more alarming aspect of the socio-economic conditions in which members of Maratha community were reeling," the Commission stated in its affidavit.

The Commission relied on the higher number of suicides in the State from the Maratha Community and also the higher percentage of even Maratha farmers in the State, to conclude that the community needs 'protection.'

"When all these factors are weighted against the buoyant economic conditions of the present day, a conclusion could be reasonably arrived at of the unusual and extraordinary economic backwardness of the Maratha community. Against the buoyant economic conditions of the present day, the abject economic condition of the Marathas demonstrates their unusual and extra ordinary economic backwardness," the affidavit reads.

Further, the affidavit pointed out that Marathas constitute a total of 28 per cent of the population in Maharashtra, however, at least 84 per cent of the persons within the community are from non-creamy layers and thus deserve protection by reservation. 

"The Maratha community has been pushed to the dark edges of mainstream society and it can no longer be considered a part of the mainstream of the society in any real sense of the term. In the case of Maratha community, it was observed the deepening of social and economic backwardness of Maratha community and it was noticed that the Maratha community was now pushed so much to the dark edges of main stream society. It was concluded that providing reservation, could provide a pathway to the community to overcome its exceptional and extraordinary challenges, ensuring equal opportunities in education, employment, and social upliftment, thereby contributing to their holistic development and integration into the mainstream of society," the affidavit concluded.

A full bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay, Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla will be hearing the matter in due course.