Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Muslim quota scrapped

Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has finally decided to scrap the decision of providing reservation to the Muslim community of Maharashtra. An order has been issued by the state minority affairs department for the same. State minority affairs minister Eknath Khadse also confirmed that the decision of reservation had been scrapped.
According to the Government Resolution by the minority affairs department, it has decided to scrap its earlier GR issued last year to provide five per cent reservation to the Muslim community in government jobs and educational institutions. The GR was issued on July 27, 2014 after the state government promulgated the ordinance for providing reservation benefits to the community on July 9, 2014.
Confirming the same, Mr Khadse said, “We have decided to scrap the earlier GR in view of the high court stay. The government was unable to take any decision regarding providing reservation to the Muslims. The decision has been taken until the court passes any new order on the matter.”
Mr Khadse also said that the government is still waiting for advocate general Sunil Manohar’s opinion on the issue sought by the government. “We are yet to get any opinion from A-G on the issue,” the minority affairs minister told this newspaper. He, however, added that the government has decided to protect all those who have got admissions in educational institutions and jobs under the same quota.
On June 25, 2014, the Congress and NCP led Democratic Front (DF) government had announced reservation to the economically weaker section of both the Maratha and Muslim communities at 16 and five per cent respectively.
However, the high court has partially scrapped the reservation for Muslims confining it only for educational institutions.
The ordinance passed the erstwhile government for the same lapsed on January 10 when the state BJP government decided not to convert it into a Bill in the winter session of the state legislature last year.

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