Supreme Court Agrees To List Curative Petition Against Maratha Quota Verdict

The Supreme Court on Friday (October 13) said that it will list the curative petition against the Maratha quota verdict in the due course.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the State of Maharashta, mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud for urgent listing. "We are processing the curative petition, we will list it," CJI DY Chandrachud said. Singh was assisted by Chirag J Shah and Utsav Trivedi, Advocates.

The curative petition is filed against the judgment delivered by a 5-judge bench in May 2021 which struck down the Maharashtra legislation providing reservation for Maratha community in the Socially and Economically Backward Class.

The bench struck down the Maharashtra SEBC Act 2018 to the extent it held Marathas as a socially and economically backward class as violating the principles of equality. The bench struck down the reservation given to Marathas in job and education. The bench said that there was no exceptional circumstances shown to provide quota for Marathas by breaching the 50% ceiling limit.

The bench also held in the judgment by 3:2 majority that States have no power to identify the Socially and Economically Backward Classes after the 102nd amendment to the Constitution. In July 2021, the 5-judge bench dismissed the review petitions filed against the judgment. The Central Government had also filed a review petition against the judgment to the extent it held that State have no power to identify SEBCs. The bench dismissed the Centre's review petition too.