Devendra Fadnavis, the former Maharashtra chief minister, met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday to encourage him to support the passage of a Constitution amendment Bill in the current session of Parliament, which seeks to reinstate the states’ right to select backward classes. Virendra Kumar, the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, later introduced the Constitution (127th Amendment) Bill, 2021, in the Lok Sabha, and the government is anticipated to push for its passage on Tuesday, despite backing from most parties, including the opposition.
Fadnavis also chastised the Maharashtra government for its handling of the legal challenge to the state’s decision to grant reservation to the Marathas, claiming that it failed to defend the Supreme Court ruling that annulled the quota order for the state’s politically and socially strong caste. “I requested (Shah) that the bill be enacted this session, and I will urge all political parties, including those who have created the stalemate in Parliament, to support this step for the benefit of the OBCs and pass the bill unanimously,” the BJP leader told reporters in the Parliament complex.
When asked about Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s stated desire that the current 50% quota ceiling be lifted so that Marathas can be awarded reservation, Fadnavis accused Thackeray of avoiding accountability and claimed his demand and the bill are two separate matters. The Bill, if passed by Parliament, will provide governments the authority to select a backward group in order to award reservation benefits, he explained.
The bill was necessary after the Supreme Court denied the Centre’s request for a review of its May 5 majority verdict, which held that the 102nd Constitution amendment stripped states of their power to notify socially and educationally disadvantaged groups for the purpose of quotas in jobs and admissions. On May 5, a five-judge Supreme Court Constitution bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan unanimously overturned a Maharashtra statute awarding quotas to Marathas and refused to transfer the 1992 Mandal ruling, which set a 50% maximum on reservation, to a larger court. In response to opposition parties’ claims that the Centre was targeting the federal system by removing states’ ability to identify and list OBCs, the Centre has claimed that it never intended to do so.
