NCP Chief Sharad Pawar Says 'People Are Being Misled' On OBC Reservation, Points To 50% Cap On Quota

Prior to this, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had also said that the Union government should lift the 50 per cent cap on reservations to ensure that the Maratha quota is restored.

New Delhi: With politics over reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is heating up, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said on Monday the people are being misled into believing that reservation can be provided by state governments. 

"Two days back, Centre asked states to prepare a list of OBC reservation. Many people think that the reservation can be provided by the state government. But they're being misled. Prior to this, court had taken an important decision and said that reservation over 50 percent can't be given," Sharad Pawar said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

"Now, the Centre has said that state governments can prepare lists for OBC reservation and take a decision on it on their own level. But this will be of no benefit because almost all states have crossed the 50 per cent mark. It's important to bring this before the public," he stressed.

Prior to this, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had also said that the Union government should lift the 50 per cent cap on reservations to ensure that the Maratha quota is restored.

He had recently discussed the reservation cap issue with leaders of Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP in Parliament virtually.

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) had also released a statement wherein it was said that the Centre should move a resolution relaxing the 50 per cent cap on reservations along with a motion to restore the rights of states to provide reservations to different communities.

The chief minister had also said that without such relaxation, permitting states to prepare their list of OBCs (Other Backward Classes) and providing reservations will not help.

"When I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi (in June), I told him that since the Supreme Court has quashed the Maratha quota and ruled that states had no right to provide reservations, the Central government should take the initiative (to relax the 50% reservation ceiling). Now that the Centre has given the right (to prepare OBC lists) to states, it should relax the 50 per cent cap (on reservations). I hope the prime minister would do so," he had said as reported by PTI.

The Maharashtra government had granted the reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and education under the SEBC category.

However, on May 5, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court unanimously set aside the quota for Marathas and refused to refer the 1992 Mandal verdict putting a cap of 50 per cent on reservations to a larger bench.