Supreme Court Questions Legality of Maharashtra's Banthiya Commission Report

The Supreme Court has called for a response from Maharashtra regarding a plea against the Banthiya Commission report, challenging its failure to allocate political reservations to backward classes. The plea insists on a new commission for empirical study to correctly identify politically backward classes in line with constitutional mandates.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday called on the Maharashtra government to respond to a plea challenging the legality of the Banthiya Commission report. The report is under scrutiny for not providing political reservation to backward classes in local bodies, as mandated by the Constitution of India.

The plea, filed by Youth For Equality Foundation and argued by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan, prompted Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to issue a notice to the state. It accuses Maharashtra of failing to perform a mandatory empirical inquiry into political backwardness and not adhering to the 'Triple Test' required by the K. Krishna Murthy ruling.

The court has highlighted that political backwardness differs from social or economic backwardness. Maharashtra allegedly relied on outdated data without a fresh study, conflating political and social backwardness, leading to improper reservation decisions according to the plea. The use of voter lists and existing backward class data without independent analysis further complicates the issue, potentially disenfranchising marginalized communities.

(With inputs from agencies.)