By: Apurva Bhatt

In what seems like a political motivated move the BJP-led government in Maharashtra has scrapped an ordinance providing reservation for Muslims, despite the Bombay High Court allowing quota for the community in educational institutions.

 The Devendra Fadnavis-led government, which had earlier said that it was against reservation on religious grounds, did not indicate if it plans to introduce a law to replace the ordinance, which lapsed in December last year. “The ordinance dated December 23, 2014 could not be converted into an Act. In view of this situation, we have decided to scrap this ordinance,” said a circular issued on Tuesday by the General Administration Department. The new government challenged the overturning of quota for Marathas and appointed a committee to suggest potential solutions, but did not make a similar move to examine the HC order on Muslim reservation in jobs.

The state government also allowed the ordinance to lapse on December 23 and chose not to extend it, thus forfeiting a chance for Muslims to obtain reservations in the education sector as allowed by the High Court. In a three-page order, the state government stated that the Bombay High Court has set aside a clause of the ordinance that provides for five per cent reservation for the community in government jobs and, therefore, it has taken the decision to scrap the ordinance. Fadnavis had earlier claimed that his government stood for the all-round development of Muslim community and the present reservation system would only help a section of the community.