JD (U) legislator demands Bihar-like caste survey in Maharashtra, writes to CM

Mumbai, Nov 9 (PTI) Janata Dal (United) MLC Kapil Patil on Thursday demanded that the Maharashtra government conduct a Bihar-like caste survey in the state and provide reservation in jobs and education to Marathas, their sub-castes and backward classes among OBCs not covered by the quota mechanism.

In a letter to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, Patil said an effective system to give (social and economic) protection to these castes should be enacted during the upcoming winter session of the state legislature.

He said earlier Tamil Nadu and now Bihar have shown the way to take the quantum of quota above the 50 per cent limit (set by the Supreme Court) and added the Constitution hasn't put any cap on reservation.

Tamil Nadu’s quantum of reservation stands at 69 per cent, while the Bihar Cabinet on Tuesday passed a proposal to raise the quota for SCs, STs, Other Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) to a total of 75 per cent from the existing 50 per cent.

The Maharashtra legislator said Article 340 of the Constitution provides for reservations for educationally and socially backward communities.

Patil claimed chief Constitution maker BR Ambedkar was not in favour of reservation for economically backward classes.

There are 346 OBC castes in Maharashtra and Kunbis are 83rd in the list. A separate sub-group under OBC needs to be created for leva Patidar, leva Patil, leva Kunbi and Kunbi Maratha, he said in the letter.

Patil demanded that 18 per cent be added to the existing 32 per cent OBC quota (which includes reservation Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribes).

In early October, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its caste survey, which revealed OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total population.

Kumar's party JD (U) heads the coalition government in Bihar. PTI MR RSY