The Maharashtra government on Tuesday accepted the first report of a committee headed by retired high court judge Sandeep Shinde, appointed to decide the procedure for granting Kunbi caste certificates to the Marathas in the Marathwada region.
The process of the issuance of Kunbi certificates has begun, an official statement said.
Kunbi, a community associated with agriculture, is grouped under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category in Maharashtra and enjoys reservation benefits in education and government jobs.
The state cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, also decided that the OBC Commission would collect fresh empirical data to assess the educational and social backwardness of the Maratha community.
These decisions by the government came amid activist Manoj Jarange’s indefinite fast for quota for the Maratha community, which entered the seventh day on Tuesday, and incidents of violence mainly in the Marathwada region.
“The first report of the Justice Sandeep Shinde (retd) committee has been submitted. The process of granting Kunbi certificates to Marathas has started,” the statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Talking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, the chief minister said it is the responsibility of the government to provide the reservation to the Maratha community.
“The government is committed to giving the Maratha community a reservation which is full proof and that can pass the legal muster. The reservation will be given without disturbing the quotas of other communities,” he said.
The cabinet also decided to form a three-member panel to be headed by retired judge Dilip Bhosale to advise the government on the legal issues related to the Maratha quota demand. Retired judges Sandeep Shinde and Maroti Gaikwad are the two other members of the panel.
The chief minister said the committee will guide the government when a curative petition is filed in the Supreme Court.
The government last month set up a five-member panel headed by Justice Shinde (retd) to decide the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for giving Kunbi certificates to members of the Maratha community from Marathwada region who (or whose ancestors) were referred to as Kunbis in Nizam-era documents.
The panel was given an extension till December 24 last week.
Earlier in the day, CM Shinde spoke to Jarange over the phone and assured him of taking a concrete decision on giving Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community at the cabinet meeting. The activist has demanded that Kunbi certificates be given to Marathas across the state.
The chief minister on Monday said the Justice Shinde (retd) committee had scrutinised 1.72 crore government documents and among them, 11,530 records were found where Kunbi caste was mentioned in the old documents. He had said the process to issue fresh Kunbi certificates would begin on Tuesday.
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