Sharad Pawar suggests solution: Ordinance a feasible option in Maratha reservation case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the implementation of the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act 2018, and referred the issue to a bench of five judges or more for the final adjudication. The Act provides reservation in education and employment to the Maratha community.

Justices L. Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta and S. Ravindra Bhat held that no appointments and admissions based on the Maratha quota will be made for 2020-21, however, the postgraduate admissions taken place already will not be altered.

At a press conference held in Delhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar expressed his views on the questions asked about various developments in Maharashtra and the country. 

On the stay on Maratha reservation, NCP chief Sharad Pawar remarked, "I think that the state government has decided to come up with an ordinance. I have not examined it through the legal prism. In my understanding of the law, an ordinance can be an option." 

He added, "I don’t think there is any difference between the Centre and the state on this issue. In Parliament, we have enacted a law mandating a 10% reservation for EWS above the 50% reservation ceiling. The expectation was that the court would take a different decision taking into account the Parliament’s action." 

दिल्ली येथे झालेल्या पत्रकार परिषदेत महाराष्ट्र आणि देशातील विविध घडामोडींबाबत विचारण्यात आलेल्या प्रश्नांवर माझी मते व्यक्त केली. #Delhi#Pressconference@NCPspeaks

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) September 11, 2020

आर्थिकदृष्ट्या मागास वर्गाला ५० टक्क्यांवर अधिकचे १० टक्के आरक्षण देण्यासाठी संसदेत कायद्यात सुधारणा करण्यात आली. हा निर्णयही न्यायालयाधीन असल्याने तो काही वेगळा लागेल, असे वाटत नाही. पण तरीही हे आरक्षण कसे टिकेल व मुलांना न्याय कसा मिळेल, यावर मार्ग काढण्याचा आमचा प्रयत्न राहील.

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) September 11, 2020