Fadnavis blames MVA govt over SC's verdict on Maratha reservation

After the Supreme Court struck down the Maratha community reservation in government jobs and educational institutions on Wednesday, Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alleged that the lack of coordination among the allies of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the improper stand resulted in the top court's verdict.

Briefing the reporters in Nagpur, Fadnavis said, "The reservation was valid in the High Court and the law was passed. The case went to the Supreme Court. We had then argued before the bench of the Chief Justice that he had not granted the stay and the law had been upheld. Today's result is sad. Sometimes there is no lawyer, sometimes there is no coordination...so, the law was postponed. The case went before a larger bench when the present government did not seem to have coordination in presenting its role."

"The rule of the Supreme Court is that the law is never suspended, the direct verdict is given, but due to the lack of equality of this government, the law was postponed. Translated documents were also not given to the Supreme Court. The report of the Gaikwad Commission was not one-sided. It was a report made after examining all the aspects, documents were attached," he said.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister alleged that the state government could not convince the Supreme Court and it must form a committee for the next battle.

"There are many things that we could not convince the court. The things that we could convince in the High Court and later in the bench of the Chief Justice, we could not present in the larger bench. We have not been able to convince the court that we have just made the amendment. We demand that the state government should form a committee for the next battle. This government has not been able to take a proper stand on the issue of OBC reservation in this court," Fadnavis said.

He emphasized that BJP as the Opposition party will continue to support the Maharashtra Government in this regard.

"State lawyers have had to say in court many times that we have no instructions from the state government. The government should not only use the role of social justice in its speeches but also take action in this regard. We, as the Opposition, will continue to support the State Government's role in this regard," stated the former chief minister.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday 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.

A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat in its judgment said that that people from the Maratha community cannot be declared as educationally and socially backward community to bring them within the reserved category.

( With inputs from ANI )