Maratha community members celebrate after the Maharashtra government accepted most of activist Manoj Jarange Patil’s demands, including granting eligible Marathas Kunbi caste certificates. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Bombay High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition on Thursday (September 18, 2025) that challenged the Maharashtra government’s decision to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas, allowing them to avail reservation benefits, observing that the petitioner was not an “aggrieved person.”
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A. Ankhad said the right to question the government resolution lay only with those directly affected members of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), who have already approached the court. Their petitions are listed before another bench on September 22.
“At this stage, this public interest litigation is thoroughly misconceived. It was open for the aggrieved persons to challenge the government decision, not for any person,” the Bench observed. It further said, “Malice in law can be taken up only by aggrieved persons, and these petitioners are not aggrieved persons.”
Avoid ‘multiplicity of litigations’
The court stressed that it was in the public interest to avoid “multiplicity of litigations” and discourage PILs where individuals already affected have seized the court. “This particular PIL is not one where we should grant any indulgence. We are, therefore, not inclined to entertain this PIL, and the same is dismissed,” the judges said.
The PIL was filed by advocate Vinit Vinod Dhotre, who argued that the government resolution was arbitrary and unconstitutional. He claimed to belong to the Scheduled Caste category, but the Bench noted this gave him no locus. It nevertheless gave him liberty to file an intervention application in the petitions filed by OBC members.
The State Government relented on caste certificates after Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange staged an indefinite hunger strike at Azad Maidan from August 29, paralysing parts of south Mumbai. On September 2, the government issued a resolution based on the Hyderabad Gazetteer and set up a committee to facilitate Kunbi caste certificates for Marathas able to show documentary evidence of Kunbi origins. Kunbis are recognised as part of the OBC category in Maharashtra.
Published – September 18, 2025 11:10 pm IST
