Bombay High Court Refuses Interim Relief In OBC Petitions Against Maratha Kunbi Certificates

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant any interim relief to a batch of petitions filed by representatives of the Kunbi and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities challenging the Maharashtra government’s September 2 Government Resolution (GR) that allows Marathas from Marathwada to obtain Kunbi caste certificates under the Hyderabad Gazette.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chamdrashekar and Justice Gautam Ankhad  refused to grant interim stay on the September  2 GR, while directing  the state to file its reply to the petitions in four weeks. 

Five petitions have been filed by various OBC organisations and representatives, including Kunbi Sena, Maharashtra Mali Samaj Mahasangh, Ahir Suvarnkar Samaj Sanstha, Sadanand Mandalik, and Maharashtra Nabhik Mahamandal. They contend that granting Kunbi certificates to Marathas will effectively include them in the OBC category, reducing reservation benefits for existing OBC communities.

The September 2 GR followed activist Manoj Jarange’s hunger strike at Azad Maidan demanding Maratha reservation. The petitioners call the move “arbitrary, unconstitutional, and politically expedient,” arguing it alters the basis for caste certification in a “vague and confusing” manner that could lead to “utter chaos.”

The plea read: “The decision is a circuitous method of granting caste certificates to the Maratha community from Other Backward Classes by a confusing and vague procedure, which is inclusion of the community in the OBC category.”

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