Maharashtra Cabinet approves Maratha panel report for reservations

Mumbai: On anticipated lines, the Maharashtra Cabinet has accepted a preliminary report submitted by the retired Justice Sandeep Shinde Committee on the prickly issue of Maratha quotas, here on Tuesday.

The Justice Shinde Committee had, on Monday, given its report on the process to determine the Kunbi-Maratha caste certificates based on the Nizam period after it found 11,530 such certificates from over 1.72 crore documents it scrutinized in the past one month.

Accordingly, the Marathas shall be issued the ‘Kunbi Caste’ certificates which will make them eligible for quotas, as demanded by the Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil, whose indefinite hunger strike entered the seventh day in Jalna.

The Cabinet was chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde with Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar participating and other issues pertaining to the Maratha quotas were also discussed.

The process to issue the ‘Kunbi Caste’ certificates to the Marathas as per the old records has been initiated, and the Backward Classes Commission will collect fresh empirical data to ascertain the social-educational backwardness of the Marathas.

An advisory panel of three retired judges - who have prepared separate committee reports on the Maratha quotas issue – will guide the government on the proposed curative petition being filed in the Supreme Court, especially pertaining to certain anomalies to ensure that it withstands legal scrutiny.

The advisory panel comprises – Justice M. G. Gaikwad (2019 report), Justice Dilip Bhosale (2021 report) and the ongoing committee of Justice Sandeep Shinde (2023 preliminary report), said the CM.