New Delhi: Three more members of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MBSCC) including the chairman, have quit the panel citing government interference, days after the resignation of two members citing the same reason.Justice (retired) Anand Nirgude, chairman of the commission, along with five out of the ten-member panel said the government was trying to force them into declaring the Maratha community as backward.Laxman Hake, one of the members who resigned, told the New Indian Express (TNIE) that the commission’s methodology involves a thorough examination of historical documents and references to determine the genuine social backwardness of the historically ruling Maratha caste in villages.He said that a comprehensive survey to determine the Maratha community’s social, educational, and economic backwardness was required and the government was trying to alter the constitution-prescribed parameters for it.Hake argued that the community, traditionally in a ruling position, faces challenges in fitting the criteria for social backwardness, emphasising the lack of consolidated survey data to prove economic and educational backwardness, the TNIE report said.In his resignation letter, another quitting member Balaji Killarikar had earlier said that “to resolve the situation, it is better to have a comprehensive caste-based socio-economic survey of Maharashtra state which will enable every section of society to realise their own socio-economic status”.After the spate of resignations, leader of opposition in the state assembly, Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar questioned the government’s silence on the matter.Meanwhile deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the Maharashtra government was not planning on increasing reservations for the Maratha community and were looking at alternative options like curative petitions.Supreme Court verdict on Maratha reservationOn October 13 this year, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said a curative petition against the apex court’s judgement holding the Maratha reservation law unconstitutional will be listed for consideration, the Hindu reported.In May 2021, the top court had declared reservation for the Maratha community as unconstitutional as it breached the 50% quota limit. The court had also refused to revisit its 1992 Indira Sawhney verdict which fixed the ceiling limit for reservation at 50%.The court had further said that it found no “exceptional circumstances” or “extraordinary situation” to break the 50% ceiling limit to bestow quota benefits on the Maratha community.
