Mumbai: At a time when the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government is struggling to tackle the Maratha agitations over quota, the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, a quasi-judicial body that decides on the inclusion and exclusion of castes for a quota, is crumbling.
Following the resignations of two members citing “government interference” in the work of the commission that’s supposed to be independent, the chairman of the commission, Anand Nirgude, a former judge at the Bombay High Court, has also tendered his resignation without citing any reason.
Earlier, Balaji Killarikar, a practising advocate at the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, and Laxman Hake, an activist from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), resigned over differences with some other commission members and the state government over how to go about ascertaining the social and economic backwardness of the Marathas, who have been protesting for reservation in government jobs and education.
Nirgude resigned on 4 December, after the resignations of Hake and Killarikar. The Maharashtra government conveyed his resignation and the state government’s acceptance of it to the member secretary of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission on 9 December. ThePrint has seen a copy of both letters.
In his resignation letter, Nirgude simply said: “I hereby tender my resignation as chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes. I express my gratitude for giving me this opportunity to work in this position.”
When contacted by ThePrint, Nirgude said he did not wish to comment.
Maharashtra chief secretary Manoj Saunik did not respond to ThePrint’s call and text message.
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Spate of resignations
The spate of resignations come after the Shinde-led government wrote a letter to the commission on 13 November with “terms of reference” to work on determining the social and economic backwardness of the Maratha community.
Killarikar and Hake said they were in favour of an all-caste socioeconomic survey in Maharashtra, while the state government wanted a limited speedy survey of just Marathas.
Moreover, Killarikar said he was also against suggestions of using different parameters to prove the social and economic backwardness of Marathas, saying it would be “discriminatory” as many other cases for reservation have been decided by the commission on the basis of the prevailing parameters.
In a statement on WhatsApp Tuesday, Killarikar said Nirgude’s resignation was also due to the government’s interference.
“Due to the increasing interference and pressure by Chandrakant Patil, the head of the ministerial group formed for (Maratha) reservation, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and head of the state’s advisory board (for Maratha reservation) retired judge Dilip Bhosale, members of the State Backward Class Commission and now even the chairman have preferred to tender their resignations,” he wrote.
Marathas, who form an estimated 33 percent of Maharashtra’s population, have periodically protested for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions of the state.
In 2021, the Supreme Court had rejected a report on the social and economic backwardness of the Marathas submitted by the commission’s former chairman, Justice M.G. Gaikwad (retd), and struck down the quota given to Marathas under the ‘socially and educationally backward class’ as “unconstitutional”.
Earlier this year — faced with the latest round of protests just ahead of the 2024 elections — the Maharashtra government filed a curative petition to get the SC to reconsider its decision.
In October this year, the Maharashtra government announced it would grant Kunbi certificates — Kunbis are a Maratha sub-caste group who are counted among the state’s OBCs — to Marathas to ensure the community is counted among the state’s other backward classes. The move sparked yet another row, with Maharashtra’s other OBC groups raising concerns.
Meanwhile, Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who’s been at the centre of the fresh Maratha protests, has reportedly warned the Shinde government against missing its 24 December deadline to grant reservation.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)