A three-judge bench of the Bombay High Court Wednesday said that it will hear afresh from July 18 a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the 2024 law providing Maratha reservation.
The bench noted that the state government’s submission that an interim order passed last year that any applications for admissions to educational institutions or jobs at government authorities taking benefit of the impugned Act will be subject to further orders in the present proceedings still continues, therefore, it was inclined to conduct the final hearing on the pleas.
The Supreme Court on May 13 had asked HC to expeditiously hear the pleas including application by students appearing for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) undergraduate and postgraduate exams of 2025. The students filed pleas seeking interim relief, claiming that a delay in the disposal of pleas was impacting their right to equal consideration in the admission process.
The pleas were not heard after the then Bombay HC Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya’s transfer as the CJ of Delhi HC in January this year.
Justice Upadhyaya was part of a full or three-judge bench, which since April, last year, had been hearing the pleas against the Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) Act, 2024 that provided 10 per cent reservation in education and government jobs to the Maratha community. The petitioners’ arguments concluded on October 14, 2024.
Two days after the SC order, the Bombay HC, on May 15, constituted a new three-judge bench/full bench of Justices Ravindra V Ghuge, N J Jamadar, and Sandeep V Marne, which heard the pleas on Wednesday.
The 2024 law, which provided 10 per cent reservation in education and government jobs to the Maratha community that constitutes nearly one-third of Maharashtra’s population, had been at the forefront of political discourse last year during the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
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Senior advocate Pradeep Sancheti, for the petitioner students, argued that education and career of thousands of students appearing for NEET exams will be affected if the interim relief of stay on the effect of the 2024 law was not granted to them.
However, Advocate General Birendra Saraf, representing the Maharashtra government, submitted that an interim order was issued by the HC on April 16, last year, and the same continued even till date, and the same was not brought to the notice of the Supreme Court.
Saraf argued that the same interim order will apply to the petitioner students, and their admissions will be subject to further orders passed by the HC.
He also submitted that interim relief cannot be sought by filing fresh petitions while the interim arrangement was made last year and the same continued from time to time.
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The full bench led by Justice Ghuge then expressed “inclination to commence the final hearing of the matter” and said it will begin the same on July 18.
