The Maharashtra government on Tuesday scrapped the process of providing caste verification and validation certificates to Muslims, formally closing a 2014 policy to provide 5% reservations to the community in jobs and education, reported The Hindu.
The quota had not been implemented due to legal hurdles. Hence, the order withdrawing the policy does not change the existing situation, but only terminates the grant of certificates to around 50 Muslim groups seeking benefits under the Special Backward Category-A framework.
In July 2014, the then Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in the state announced 16% reservation for Marathas and 5% reservation for Muslims in government jobs and government-run educational institutions by placing them under a Socially and Educationally Backward Classes category, The Hindu reported.
The announcement was made ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections by then-minister Arif Naseem Khan.
The Muslim quota did not apply to the entire community. Instead, it covered around 50 identified socially and educationally backward Muslim communities, largely comprising occupational and artisan groups. Persons belonging to these communities were required to obtain caste and validity certificates similar to other backward class procedures, The Indian Express reported.
The 2014 ordinance was challenged before the Bombay High Court. During the hearing, the court struck down the implementation of the 5% reservation in jobs, but allowed reservation for Muslims in education, The Hindu reported.
However, the ordinance was not converted into a permanent law within the stipulated time frame and lapsed on December 23, 2014, after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state. While the government pursued legal remedies to restore Maratha reservation, no legislative effort was made to preserve the Muslim quota framework, The Indian Express reported.
Once the ordinance lapsed, the 5% reservation in education also ceased to operate and the government resolutions issued under the ordinance gradually lost effect, the newspaper reported.
The latest government resolution formally revokes all directions and administrative processes linked to the earlier policy.
Opposition leaders have criticised the move. Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said the decision showed that the BJP-led government “does not value Muslim leaders of BJP and their allies”, The Hindu reported.
“So this order is unlikely to have much impact on ground,” The Indian Express quoted Shaikh as saying. “However, it sends a clear political message about the ruling government’s position on Muslim reservation and how strongly it opposes the idea that it is revoking government resolutions that are not even being implemented in the first place.”
Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat defended the decision, stating that the earlier announcement was made ahead of elections without completing the necessary legal procedures, The Indian Express reported.
“The reservation was announced by the Congress in December 2014, just ahead of the elections as a way to appease the Muslim community for votes,” The Indian Express quoted Shirsat as saying. “Since it was merely an appeasement move and the mandatory process was not followed through, the present development has taken place.”
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