Mumbai, Apr 30 The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that a 2014 ordinance granting 5 per cent reservation to Muslims lapsed the same year, and hence a GR issued in February this year has not, per se, scrapped any quota to the community.
The state submitted its affidavit last week in response to a petition filed by advocate Syed Ejaz Naqvi, challenging the February 17 government resolution (GR) that allegedly cancelled the 5 per cent reservation to the Muslim community in government jobs and education.
A bench of Justices R I Chagla and Advait Sethna is likely to take up the plea for hearing on May 4.
Naqvi had termed the government's decision as "racial discrimination" and claimed it was violative of the Constitution and against the interests of the Muslim community.
The affidavit, filed by the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, however, refuted the "unfounded, baseless, and reckless allegations of racial discrimination" made in the petition against the state government.
"There is no discrimination, nor any provisions of the constitution or any other laws are violated as no reservation can continue without statutory backing," the government's affidavit said.
It said the petition was misconceived, devoid of merits, and liable to be dismissed as it proceeds on incorrect assumptions of fact and that the 2014 ordinance has lapsed.
As per the affidavit, the February 17 GR was "legal, valid, and issued in consonance with statutory provisions".
The government said the July 2014 ordinance providing 5 per cent reservation of seats to Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs lapsed in December the same year and was never replaced by any valid legislation thereafter.
"Consequently, no enforceable right survives or can be claimed on the basis of the said ordinance," it said.
"The Constitution of India does not envisage the grant of reservation solely on the basis of religion and hence the reliefs sought by the petition cannot be entertained," the government said in its affidavit.
It further said that legislation falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the legislature, and hence the court cannot issue directions to the legislature to enact a law or revive a lapsed prdinance.
As per Naqvi's plea, in July 2014, the then Congress-NCP government announced 16 per cent reservation for the Maratha community and 5 per cent for Muslims in government jobs and education, placing them under the Socially and Economically Backward Class category.
This ordinance was challenged in the HC, which struck down the reservation for jobs but allowed a 5 per cent reservation for the Muslim community in education, the plea said.
As per the new GR, all previous decisions and the ordinance related to 5 per cent reservation in government, semi-government jobs and educational institutions for the socially and educationally backward Muslim group included under the Special Backward Category (A) have been cancelled.
The government has cancelled the earlier decisions and circulars from 2014 and stopped issuing caste and non-creamy layer certificates to Muslims in the Special Backward Category, the new order said.
