Mumbai: The petitioners who have opposed reservations for the Marathas and the Muslims in Maharashtra, Thursday argued before the Bombay High Court that these communities were not backward, and Marathas were in fact dominant in many sectors.
Former journalist Ketan Tirodkar who has filed one of the public interest litigations against state government's election-year decision to provide reservations today stated that 75 per cent of cooperative sugar factories in Maharashtra were controlled by Marathas.
Further, 75 per cent of the educational institutions too were controlled by the same community, he said. Also, 75 per cent of the land in the state was owned by the Maratha community, he added.
The people from the community form majority of the borrowers of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, and many loans of the bank had turned bad, leading to appointment of administrator, he said.
The division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah asked Tirodkar to provide data regarding the purported dominance of Marathas in economically strong regions of Satara, Sangli, Parbhani, Baramati, Pune and Karad, vis-a-vis other districts.
The Congress-NCP government, which is facing Assembly elections next month, earlier this year took the decision to provide 16 per cent reservations for Marathas and five per cent for the Muslims.
