Ashok Chavan’s letter to all party MPs for Maratha reservation.

Ashok Chavan’s letter to all party MPs for Maratha reservation.

Strong campaign to relax 50 percent reservation limit.

Public Works Minister and Chairman of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Maratha Reservation Ashok Chavan has appealed to all party MPs in Maharashtra to follow up by demanding relaxation of the 50 percent reservation limit in the monsoon session of Parliament and to contribute and co-operate for Maratha reservation. 

Mr. On Saturday, Chavan sent a letter to members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from all parties in the state via email and courier, stating the need to relax the 50 percent reservation limit for Maratha reservations. In his letter, he has mentioned the verdict given by the Supreme Court on 5 May 2021 in the Maratha reservation case and the legal situation created accordingly. After the Supreme Court rejected the Centre’s review petition on the 102nd Amendment, the Center is likely to introduce a bill in the current monsoon session of Parliament to reinstate the right to declare socially and educationally backward elements. However, even if the Center or the state has the power to declare SEBC, if the 50 percent reservation limit is maintained, it will not be possible to give Maratha reservation as well as new reservations to most of the states in the country. Because the reservations there have already gone above 50 percent. Given this situation, it is not enough for the central government to give the states the right to declare SEBCs, but it is important to relax the 50 percent reservation limit mentioned in various court judgments by taking necessary legal action. In a letter sent to MPs, Ashok Chavan has said that this is necessary in connection with giving Maratha a reservation.

He also briefed the MPs on the efforts made by the state government at the judicial level to relax the reservation limit. However, as these efforts have not yet been successful, the central government needs to consider the matter at the parliamentary level. A delegation of the Mahavikas Aghadi government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, during a visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 8, 2021, pointed out the impediment to the 50 percent reservation limit in the Indra Sahni judgment and its consequences. He also demanded that the central government should take necessary legal action to relax the 50 percent reservation limit. In his letter, Ashok Chavan said that the state government expects the central government to take appropriate action at the parliamentary level to co-operate on important issues in Maharashtra like the Maratha reservation.

In order to give Maratha reservation, Ashok Chavan has been constantly demanding that the 50 percent reservation limit mentioned in Indra Sahni and other court judgments should be relaxed by amending the constitution in Parliament. The recent monsoon session of the state legislature had on July 5, 2021, passed a resolution recommending to the Center to relax the 50 percent reservation limit. After the session began, he went to New Delhi and called on Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, former Union Home Minister and Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra P. Chidambaram, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and others and raised the issue in Parliament. Since then, he has written letters to all MPs to give more impetus to the campaign.