Aryan Grover
A five judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India, comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat reserved judgement in an appeal challenging a Bombay High Court order which upheld the reservations given to Marathas in jobs and education under Maharashtra Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018.
In an appeal filed by J Laxman Rao Patil, a stay was sought on the High Court order as the reservation stands at 65 percent in education and 62 percent in jobs, exceeding the 50 percent cap. In another appeal filed by advocate Sanjeet Shukla, it was contended that the reservation given to people of the Maratha community is in violation of the Apex Court’s
judgement in the Indira Sahwney case.
The judgement on the constitutionality of this act as well as the Apex court’s 1992 verdict capping the reservation at 50 per cent has been reserved. This comes after a 2019 ruling of the Bombay High Court which said that the 50 percent cap on total reservations imposed by the Supreme Court could be exceeded in exceptional circumstances.
The Central government maintained that it believes that the SEBC Act, which extends reservation to the Maratha community in public education and employment, is constitutional.