PILs in Bombay High Court challenge Maratha-Kunbi certificate order

MUMBAI: A city-based lawyer, Vinit Dhotre, has challenged the state’s September 2 government resolution (GR), which stipulates granting Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Marathas, which will enable them to get reservation under OBC category, before the Bombay High Court (HC) on Wednesday.

PIL challenges GR to provide Kunbi certificates to Marathas

In his public interest litigation (PIL) Dhotre has claimed that the move is not only violative of the right to equality for OBCs and the Indra Sawhney judgment (of November 1992, in which the apex court held that merit is the rule and reservation to a caste is an exception and therefore total reservation in a state cannot exceed 50% and laid down a cap on the extent of total reservation), but also lacks legislative competence under the Constitution of India to grant reservation.

The petition adds that the state government is not legally competent to issue such a GR under Article 342A of the Constitution, which talks about socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC). The article was introduced by the Constitution (102nd Amendment) Act, 2018, and grants powers to the President to declare a caste as an SEBC. It was subsequently amended in 2021 to allow state governments to maintain an SEBC list, distinct from the Central government.