In a major relief for Marathas, the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided to provide reservation to the community under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category for educational admissions and jobs.
The 10 per cent EWS quota is earmarked for those who are not covered under any social reservations.
The Maratha community had been up in arms ever since the court decision. Earlier this week, another order by the Aurangabad bench of the High court expressed dismay that the government hadn’t thought of including the SEBC appointees via the EWS category.
The order was passed after 3 candidates who had qualified for Tahsil level positions said their appointments had been stopped after the SC decision whereas those who had lower marks than them and belonged to the EWS category were being appointed. The High court had then stayed appointments of candidates with lower marks than the petitioners till the next hearing in January. A constitution bench of the Supreme Court is also expected to hear the Maratha reservation case in January.
The next hearing of the case before the constitutional bench of the apex court is scheduled on January 25 next year.
In another decision, the state Cabinet gave its nod to a project for the preservation and conservation of ancient temples in the state. The state PWD department will implement the project, an official release said.
The announcement for preservation and conservation of ancient temples was made by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in the recently-held winter session of the state legislature.
The Cabinet also decided to mark January 3 as “Women’s Education Day” to commemorate the birth anniversary of social reformer Savitribai Phule. In another decision, the Cabinet gave its consent to waive the license fees for liquor shops for the period of their closure during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
