By Our Web Desk & PTI
The BJP-led Maharashtra government’s decision to cancel the five per cent reservation for Muslims in education and government jobs has triggered a fresh political confrontation, with Opposition parties calling it discriminatory and legally unnecessary.
A recent government resolution cancelled all previous decisions and the ordinance granting five per cent reservation in government and semi-government jobs and educational institutions for the socially and educationally backward Muslim group under the Special Backward Category (A).
At the heart of the controversy lies an ordinance issued in 2014 by the then Congress-NCP government, which provided five per cent reservation to Muslims in education and jobs.
The ordinance never became a confirmed law and lapsed after a change in government and lack of legislative follow-up. The present move to formally withdraw that framework has raised questions across party lines.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi said: “The 2014 ordinance never became a confirmed law and lapsed. Why make a formal announcement to invalidate something that was already ineffective? If the intent was social justice, the incomplete process should have been pursued with a strong legal foundation.”
This story was originally published in telegraphindia.com. Read the full story here.