The Bombay High Court, through a three-judge bench, has allowed the continuation of 10% reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs for the year 2025. This continuation is based on an interim order passed in April 2024 and will remain in effect subject to the final outcome of multiple petitions challenging the validity of the Maharashtra State Reservation law passed in February 2024.
The bench comprises Justice Ravindra Ghuge, Justice Nizamoodin Jamadar, and Justice Sandeep Marne. Due to high pendency and the involvement of all three judges in other division benches, they have committed to hearing the matter on alternate Saturdays to ensure a timely resolution.
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“All three of us are part of different division benches and you all are aware of the pendency in the principal seat of this court. So we think, we can hear your arguments on every alternate Saturdays, though it not being court working days but we will come and sit and hear you,” the bench said.
The hearing has been scheduled to commence on July 18, 2025 and will continue the following day, Saturday, July 19, 2025.
During the hearing, senior advocate Pradeep Sancheti, representing petitioner Sanjeet Shukla, requested that the court first decide whether the interim relief granted in April 2024 should continue. He argued that the interim relief was only for 2024 and not applicable to 2025.
Advocate General Dr. Birendra Saraf strongly opposed this, stating that detailed submissions had already been made before the previous bench and that re-arguing interim relief would be repetitive.
The court agreed with Saraf's argument and refused to revisit the interim relief issue.
“If your contention not to continue the interim relief and exclude the persons, who would otherwise be eligible for reservation, from the admission or selection process, would mean staying the entire Act itself and it will change the entire scenario. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the interim relief will continue even for this year's admissions and recruitment subject to outcome of these petitions,” observed Justice Ghuge.
Background: The Maratha Quota Law
The impugned law was passed by the Maharashtra legislature on February 20, 2024, and officially notified on February 26, 2024. The government relied on a report from the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC), led by retired Justice Sunil B. Shukre, which stated that “exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations” existed to justify granting reservation to the Maratha community beyond the constitutionally permitted 50% limit.
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This is not the first time Maratha reservation has been challenged. In 2018, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government passed the SEBC Act, granting 16% reservation to Marathas in jobs and education. In June 2019, the Bombay High Court upheld the law but reduced the reservation to 12% in education and 13% in government jobs, calling the original percentage excessive.
That verdict was challenged before the Supreme Court, which in May 2021, struck down the entire SEBC Act. The Constitution Bench held that the Maratha community did not meet the threshold of extraordinary circumstances required to breach the 50% cap laid down in the landmark Indra Sawhney (Mandal) judgment of 1992. It also questioned the validity of data presented to prove the Marathas' backward status.
