SC dismisses Centre's review petition in Maratha reservation case

The Supreme Court in its judgment had on June 28 dismissed the review petition filed by the central government challenging the interpretation of the 102nd Constitutional amendment in the Maratha reservation case.

A five-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan passed the judgment on June 28, which was released by the court on Thursday.

The other four judges on the bench of the top court were Justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and Shripathi Ravindra Bhat.

"Application for an oral hearing is rejected. We have gone through the review petition filed against the judgment of May 05, 2021, in the writ petition. The grounds taken in the review petition do not fall within the limited ground on which review petition can be considered," the apex court said, in its verdict.

"The various grounds taken in the review petition have already been dealt with in the main judgment. We do not find any sufficient ground to entertain this review petition. The review petition is dismissed," the top court said, in its judgment.

The Central government on May 13 filed a review petition before the Supreme Court urging it to review its judgement where it unanimously declared a Maharashtra law which provided reservation benefits to the Maratha community, taking the quota limit in the state above 50 per cent, as unconstitutional.

"The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has pronounced Judgement dated May 5, in the matter of Shiv Sangram v/s Union of India and other various civil appeals involving interpretation of the provisions of the Constitution 102nd Amendment Act, 2018. As provided in the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, a review petition for review of the judgement of the Supreme Court has been filed by the Union of India on May 13," the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had stated in a release.

The Supreme Court, on May 5, struck down the reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the Maratha community brought in by the Maharashtra government in 2018, saying it exceeded the 50 per cent cap imposed earlier.

( With inputs from ANI )