Mumbai, Aug 31 (PTI) The cabinet sub-committee on Maratha quota will seek legal view on implementing the Hyderabad gazetteer on Kunbi status to the community, Maharashtra minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil
said on Sunday.
Vikhe Patil heads the cabinet sub-committee on issues related to the Maratha community's demand for reservation and its social, educational and economic condition.
Talking to reporters after the sub-committee met here, Vikhe Patil said Advocate General Biren Saraf and retired HC judge Sandeep Shinde told the panel that they would require time to study whether the Hyderabad and Satara gazetteers can be implemented as demanded by activist Manoj Jarange.
“I will meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and apprise him of the deliberations the sub-committee had. There is a Supreme Court observation regarding the recognition of Marathas as Kunbis. We cannot override the SC observations (that Marathas and Kunbis are not the same). We are open to discussions as a solution needs to be found,” he said.
Jarange has been staging an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai since Friday over his demand for a 10 per cent quota for Marathas under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category.
He has demanded that Marathas be recognised as Kunbis — an agrarian caste included in the OBC category — which will make them eligible for reservation in government jobs and education. PTI MR NR
