Chief Minister of Maharastra Devendra Fadnavis attending the third national convention of Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, assured the OBCs that their jobs are safe and will not be given to the candidates of other categories.
“In no way, the seats meant for the OBCs would be given to any other individual (from non-OBC category). The seats meant for the OBCs will go to OBCs only,” Fadnavis reassured.
The reports were on the rise that Other Backward Classes have objected to the alleged inclusion of Marathas in the OBC category.
According to PTI, OBCs have been demanding that the OBC quota be raised from the current 19 per cent as they constitute more than half the population(52%) in Maharashtra.
Fadnavis said that his government will evaluate the ‘extent of representation given to the OBCs in jobs till date’. He added, “If the representation is below the percentage of quota alloted, then the backlog would be cleared in a time-bound manner,” reported PTI.
He admitted that there was no “exact information” to assess the actual OBC representation in the jobs but his Maharastra BJP government will find out the “relevant details”.
Maratha community forms 30 per cent of the state’s population and has been protesting for reservation in jobs and educational institutes under the OBC category for a while now.
The current reservation quota in Maharashtra is OBC–19%, Scheduled Castes–13%, Scheduled Tribes–7%; Nomadic, Denotified Tribes and Special Backward Category together at 13%.