The Maharashtra government has scrapped a decade-old resolution linked to the 2014 Muslim quota plan in education, sparking a political war of words, with the Opposition calling it anti-minority and the BJP dismissing it as an unimplemented Congress “appeasement” stunt announced ahead of elections.

The state’s Social Justice Department withdrew Tuesday a 2014 Government Resolution that allowed around 50 identified Muslim communities to obtain caste verification and validity certificates under the Special Backward Category-A (SBC-A), effectively closing the last administrative route to reservation claims in education.

Defending the move, Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat said the reservation was announced by the Congress “just ahead of the elections” to appease voters, but the required legal and administrative steps were never completed.

Meanwhile, the Opposition on Wednesday attacked the Mahayuti government’s move, calling it “anti-minority” and questioning the need to withdraw a quota framework that had lapsed years ago. The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) said the decision showed that the BJP did not value Muslim leaders within its party and allies. “It also shows that these Muslim leaders won’t get justice from the BJP,” spokesperson Clyde Crasto said. AIMIM leader and former MP Imtiaz Jaleel also criticised the move, alleging that the ruling party did not want Muslim youth to rise to positions like IAS and IPS officers.

The decision also terminates all previous resolutions issued on the subject, bringing a formal closure to a policy first introduced in 2014 but never fully implemented. In November that year, the Bombay High Court had upheld the principle of allowing reservation for Muslims in government and government-funded educational institutions, even as the ordinance later lapsed.

The demand for Muslim reservation in Maharashtra took institutional shape in 2008 when the then Congress-NCP government set up a committee under retired IAS officer Mehmood ur Rahman to study the socio-economic condition of Muslims in the state.

After five years of study, the committee reported that nearly 60 per cent of Muslims in Maharashtra were below the poverty line. Representation in government jobs stood at 4.4 per cent and only 2.2 per cent of the community were graduates. The panel recommended 8 per cent reservation in state employment, education and housing, arguing that affirmative action was necessary to address structural backwardness.

Acting on the findings, the Congress-NCP government in July 2014 issued an ordinance granting 16 per cent reservation to Marathas and 5 per cent reservation to Muslims in government jobs and government-run educational institutions.

The Muslim quota did not apply to the entire community. Instead, it created a Special Backward Category-A and included around 50 identified socially and educationally backward Muslim communities, largely comprising groups such as weavers, butchers, oil pressers and the fisher folk. Individuals from these communities were required to obtain caste and caste validity certificates.

The decision was challenged in the Bombay High Court. In its judgment on November 14, 2014, the court struck down Maratha reservation, but allowed 5 per cent reservation for Muslims in education.

The bench said: “We are accordingly satisfied about the existence of (an) exception of compelling or extraordinary circumstances for exceeding the reservation ceiling limit of 50% by another 5% in so far as reservations to state owned or aided educational institutions are concerned.”

It emphasised the broader constitutional goal of mainstreaming disadvantaged communities: “Interim stay of provisions in the impugned ordinance providing for reservations of seats in educational institutions will certainly impede the process of drawing the Muslim youths into the mainstream of secular education in the State.”

However, the ordinance was not converted into a permanent law within the constitutional time frame and was allowed to lapse on December 23, 2014, after the BJP came to power in the state. While the government pursued legal remedies to restore Maratha reservation, no legislative effort was made to preserve the Muslim quota framework.

As a result, the 5 per cent reservation in education ceased to be effective and the Government Resolution issued under the ordinance gradually lost effect.

After the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government came to power, the issue resurfaced briefly. In February 2020, Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik informed the Maharashtra Legislative Council that the government would bring a law to provide 5 per cent reservation to Muslims in educational institutions. However, within a week, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray clarified that no such proposal was under consideration.

The latest Government Resolution formally revokes all directions and administrative processes linked to the earlier policy, including issuance of caste and validity certificates under SBC-A for Muslim communities.

This means there is now no active 5 per cent reservation for Muslims under SEBC or any special category in Maharashtra, including in the education sector.

Shirsat defended the decision, saying, “Reservation cannot be granted simply because someone stands up in the Assembly and announces it. Due process has to be followed.”

Samajwadi Party MLA Raees Shaikh said, “Muslims were not receiving the benefits of reservation in any case; so this order is unlikely to have much impact on ground. However, it sends a clear political message about the ruling government’s position on Muslim reservation and how strongly it opposes the idea… it is revoking government resolutions that are not even being implemented in the first place.”

Muslims are not eligible for reservation solely on the basis of religion. However, individuals belonging to Muslim communities that are included in existing OBC, VJNT (Vimukta Jatis and Nomadic Tribes) or other recognised backward class lists continue to be eligible for reservation under those categories. In such cases, eligibility is determined by community classification and not by religious identity. With this latest revocation, the state government has effectively drawn a line – leaving Muslim reservation in Maharashtra confined to individuals who qualify under existing backward class categories rather than through a separate religion-based framework.

(with PTI inputs)