“The state government will take an appropriate decision on bringing in the law, before school admissions start in June,” Maharashtra minister for minority affairs Nawab Malik said.
The announcement was made by minority affairs minister, Nawab Malik in the on going assembly session today. Maharashtra government will bring in a law to give five per cent reservation to Muslims in educational institutes, state minister for minority affairs Nawab Malik said in the Legislative Council Friday.
“The Bombay High Court has upheld the five per cent reservation in educational institutes given to Muslims in 2014. The government will soon bring a law to provide that benefit,” Malik said, responding to a question by Congress legislator Sharad Ranpise.
The minister further added that the government will bring the law as per the Constitution, and it will stand in court. “The government will take appropriate decision on bringing in the law before school admissions start in June,” he said.
In a written reply to a starred question on Muslim reservation by Ranpinse, Malik said the government had given five per cent reservation to Muslims in government jobs and educational institutes through an ordinance in July 2014. “Petitions were filed against it, and the Bombay High Court, in its interim order in November 2014, upheld five per cent reservation in government and government-aided educational institutes. But it had stayed the reservation given in private educational institutes and government jobs,” said the minister.
Malik further said that the ordinance promulgated in July 2014 for the quota lapsed in November 2014, as it was not converted into a law. The benefit was planned by the then Congress-NCP government under Prithviraj Chavan, but the BJP-led government that came to power in October 2014 ruled out the reservation to Muslims on religious grounds, citing various Supreme Court and High Court rulings.