MUMBAI: Maharashtra state government on Wednesday reiterated before the Bombay High Court that it won't fill up any of over 70,000 posts till January 23, when the next hearing on the case is to be held.
The state government also assured the court that the report of state backward caste commission (MSBCC), based on which state had granted 16 percent quota to Maratha community, can be produced before the court though the government is apprehensive of making it public as "Some portions of report are not relevant and are volatile".
Advocate General of Maharashtra Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said that the recommendations of the commission are being implemented but in the report there is some mention of the history of Maratha community that can create social unrest.
Advocate Gunaratna Sadavarte, who had filed the petition opposing the Maratha quota, pleaded before the court that the state government has started the process to give caste certificates to people from Maratha community and the process would in turn affect the mega recruitment process. Adv Sadavarted demanded that the recruitment be stayed till the high court decides on the validity of the quota granted to Maratha community. The same point was repeated by other petitioners opposing the quota.
Adv V A Thorat representing Maharashtra government finally assured the court that the government won't go ahead with the recruitment till the hearing on the case is over. He also stated that the government had earlier made it clear before the court that looking at the volume of the posts to be filled it is unlikely that the process would be over before April 23.
In the affidavit filed before the court, the government made it clear that the recruitment process has not begun as yet and the pre-process moves are being wrongly interpreted and is being opposed in the court.
The petitioners opposed the state government's stand on not producing the MSBCC report before court. "How can the arguments to oppose quota can be framed till the basis of granting the quota are not known," the petitioners said.
It was after this that Adv Thorat said that the government is "duty bound" to give the report to the court. It is likely that the report will be handed over to the division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice MS Karnik sometime by first Monday of January 2019. It was also decided that a decision on giving a truncated version of the report to the petitioners will be taken in the coming days.