SC to hear plea challenging Bombay HC order upholding reservation to Marathas

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear on Friday a plea challenging the Bombay High Court's decision to uphold the law by which the Maratha community would get reservation in admissions and government jobs in Maharashtra.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices Deepak Gupta and Anriuddha Bose took note of the plea that the issue of Maratha quota needed an urgent hearing.

It decided to fix the petition for deliberations on July 12. The plea was filed in the apex court by Sanjeet Shukla, a representative of an NGO, "Youth for Equality".

It challenges the Bombay High Court order which upheld the constitutional validity of the quota for the Maratha community in education and government jobs in the state.

The plea said the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, which provided a 12 per cent and a 13 per cent quota to the Maratha community in education and jobs respectively, breached the 50 per cent ceiling on reservation fixed by the apex court in its landmark judgment in the Indira Sahwney case, also known as the "Mandal verdict".

The Maharashtra government had also filed a caveat in the top court anticipating challenge to the verdict passed by the high court, saying no ex-parte order should be passed on any plea challenging the June 27 judgment of the high court without hearing the state.