Bombay High Court to Hear Maratha Quota Act Petitions From October 9

The Bombay High Court will begin hearing petitions concerning the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2024, from October 9. The law grants the Maratha community 10% reservation in education and in State government services.

A bench of Justices Makarand Karnik, Nizamoodin Jamadar and Sandeep Marne will conduct the hearing. Justice Karnik indicated on Friday that the bench would take up both petitions challenging the Act and those seeking to defend it.

The matter reached this bench after proceedings before two earlier benches were interrupted. A bench led by then Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyay, along with Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla, had heard the petitions before Justice Upadhyay was transferred to the Delhi High Court, halting the hearings. Subsequently, a bench under Justice Ravindra Ghuge heard the matter from May 2025 to August 2025, until Justice Ghuge was appointed Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, which again brought the proceedings to a stop.

The legislature passed the Act on February 20, 2024, and the State government notified it on February 26, 2024. The law followed a report by the Maharashtra State Backwards Classes Commission, then headed by Justice Sunil B. Shukre, which cited circumstances and situations to justify granting reservation to the Maratha community beyond the 50% ceiling on reservation.

The current law follows a longer legal history. An advocate had moved the Bombay High Court against the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018, enacted by a government led by Devendra Fadnavis, which gave Marathas 16% reservation in government jobs and education. In June 2019, the Bombay High Court upheld the law but held that the 16% quota could not be justified, reducing it to 12% in education and 13% in government jobs. Jarange Patil and others challenged that verdict in the Supreme Court.

In May 2021, a Bench of the Supreme Court struck down the SEBC Act, 2018, holding that no circumstances justified reservation for Marathas beyond the 50% ceiling set by the 1992 Indra Sawhney (Mandal) judgment. The Supreme Court also questioned the data submitted to demonstrate the backwardness of Marathas. The Maharashtra government filed a review petition, which was rejected in April 2023. The government then filed a petition that remains pending before the Supreme Court.