Bombay High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyay, Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh Pooniwalla heard the petitions. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Bombay High Court will begin hearing petitions on October 9 on the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2024. The Act gives 10% reservation to Marathas in education and in services under the State. A bench of Justices Makarand Karnik, Nizamoodin Jamadar and Sandeep Marne will hear the petitions.
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Justice Karnik said on Friday (September 18, 2026) that the bench will start the hearing on October 9. The bench will hear petitions that challenge the Act and petitions that seek to defend it.
The matter came to this bench after hearings before two benches stopped. A bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyay, Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh Pooniwalla heard the petitions. Justice Upadhyay moved to the Delhi High Court. That bench stopped hearing the petitions. A bench under Justice Ravindra Ghuge then heard the matter from May 2025 to August 2025. Justice Ghuge became Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. The matter stopped.
The legislature passed the Act on February 20, 2024. The State government notified it on February 26, 2024. The Act followed a report by the Maharashtra State Backwards Classes Commission led by Justice Sunil B. Shukre, who has retired. The report cited circumstances and situations to grant reservation to the Maratha community beyond the 50% limit on reservation.
An advocate moved the Bombay High Court against the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2018. A government led by Devendra Fadnavis enacted that law. It gave Marathas 16% reservation in jobs under the government and in education. In June 2019, the Bombay High Court upheld the law. The court held that the 16% quota could not be justified and reduced it to 12% in education and 13% in jobs under the government. Jarange Patil and others challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court.
In May 2021, a Bench of the Supreme Court struck down the SEBC Act, 2018. The bench held that no circumstances justified reservation for Marathas beyond the 50% ceiling set by the 1992 Indra Sawhney (Mandal) judgment. The Supreme Court also questioned the data submitted to show the backwardness of Marathas. The Maharashtra government filed a petition for review. The court rejected it in April 2023. The government then filed a petition. That petition remains before the Supreme Court.
Published – September 18, 2026 09:28 pm IST
