State may allow ‘sage-soyare’ notification to lapse

Over 70% people who responded to the call for comments to the notification opposed it for various reasons: Officials

Mumbai: The state government may quietly bury the draft notification to extend quota benefits associated with the Kunbi caste — which is part of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community — to the “sage soyare” (those related by birth or marriage) of eligible Marathas. For a year now, the state government has not taken any steps to convert the draft notification into a formal notification as the Bharatiya Janata Party – the largest party in the Mahayuti coalition – is opposed to it.

State may allow ‘sage-soyare’ notification to lapse

The Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government had issued the draft notification on January 26 last year, following aggressive agitations by Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil. A copy of the draft notification was also handed over to Jarange-Patil on the border of Mumbai to stop him from entering the city as part of the protest.

OBC organisations and leaders had staunchly opposed the notification, saying it would lead to encroachment on OBC reservation. Later, the state government had invited suggestions/objections to the draft, saying a decision would be taken based on responses.

“We received over 850,000 suggestions and objections that were divided into four groups. Over 70% of them had opposed the notification for various reasons, while some were in support. Some only offered suggestions, while yet others expressed no opinion,” said an official from the social justice department.

According to the officer, initially, the state government had planned to pass the draft notification during the budget session held in February-March last year. Accordingly, the social justice department was asked to scrutinise the suggestions/ objections within a few weeks. But opposition from the BJP, which was then playing second fiddle in the state government, stalled the move.

“The social justice department is now expected to seek legal opinion over the validity of the draft notification as one year has already lapsed,” said the official.

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil had been insisting on Kunbi certificates for all Marathas since the start of the agitation, to pave the way for their inclusion under the OBC quota. To facilitate this, the state government appointed a committee under retired high court judge Sandeep Shinde, which collated over 5.8 million documents related to Kunbi records from the pre-independence era. Based on these records, Kunbi certificates were issued to around 800,000 Marathas.

On Thursday, the state government gave the third extension to the Shinde committee, saying it would study the Hyderabad, Bombay and Satara gazettes for more Kunbi records.

But Mantralaya officials said this was done more to pacify the Marathas than to follow through on reservations for them under the OBC quota. Justice Shinde himself was not very keen on the extension as the terms of reference of the committee had been complied with, and officials borrowed from other departments had been sent back, they said.

“The committee has not met for at least the last six months and its office on the seventh floor of Mantralaya has also been allotted to one of the new ministers,” said an official.