The Maharashtra government’s decision to scrap the 5% reservations in education and government jobs for Muslims has been challenged in the Bombay High Court, Bar and Bench reported on Saturday.
The petition filed by a lawyer seeks to quash the government resolution issued on Tuesday that formally cancelled a July 2014 order that had allowed 50 identified Muslim communities to obtain caste verification and validity certificates under the Special Backward Category-A framework.
The plea alleges that the government’s decision was deliberate, arbitrary and amounts to discrimination against minorities, the legal news outlet reported.
The plea alleged that the state was “practicing racial discrimination” with Muslim students and the same violated fundamental rights of the petitioner, a Muslim, and the community, The Indian Express reported.
The petitioner has sought an interim stay on Tuesday’s decision and urged the court to direct the authorities to produce quantified data relied upon to justify cancelling the policy.
No complaints had been made to the State Backward Class Commission regarding the Muslim quota and no party had been hurt by the policy, Bar and Bench quoted the petition as having contended.
The plea further argued that withdrawing reservations was a populist decision that was legally unsustainable, particularly in light of earlier judicial findings recognising the backwardness of the specified Muslim sub-communities.
Further, the petitioner contended that the state’s allocation of more than Rs 350 crore annually for madrasa education effectively withholds Muslims from mainstream and modern education, and “limits Muslims young minds in the dark Talibani ages”, The Indian Express reported.
“The respondent authorities are violating the rights of minorities to get modern education,” the plea added.
In July 2014, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in the state at the time had announced 16% reservations for Marathas and 5% for Muslims in government jobs and government-run educational institutions by placing them under a Socially and Educationally Backward Classes category.
The announcement was made ahead of the 2014 Assembly elections.
The Muslim quota did not apply to the entire community. Instead, it covered about 50 identified socially and educationally backward Muslim communities, largely comprising occupational and artisan groups. The persons belonging to the communities were required to obtain caste and validity certificates similar to other backward class procedures.
The 2014 ordinance was challenged before the High Court. The court had struck down the implementation of the 5% quota in jobs, but allowed reservations for Muslims in education.
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-led coalition came to power in the state. While the government pursued legal remedies to restore Maratha reservations, no legislative effort was made to preserve the Muslim quota framework.
Once the ordinance lapsed, the 5% reservation in education also ceased to exist and the government resolutions issued under the ordinance gradually lost effect, the newspaper reported.
The government resolution on Tuesday had formally revoked all directions and administrative processes linked to the earlier policy.
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