Quota to Marathas means permanent crutches to them: HC told

By granting reservation to the Maratha community, the Maharashtra government has given them permanent crutches which they will never be able to shed, anti-quota petitioners argued in the Bombay High Court on Friday.

The government has destroyed the concept of equality by setting up a special category - Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC)- for the Maratha community, the petitioners argued.

A division bench of justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre heard arguments for the third day on a bunch of petitions challenging the state government's decision granting 16 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and educational institutions.

"Reservation cannot be mistaken for a privilege. The state government by trying to bring the community up has given it permanent crutches. At some point, they need to shed the crutches," senior counsel Shrihari Aney, appearing for one of the petitioners Uday Dhople, argued.

He added that through this decision, the ...