A fresh judicial panel has been formed at the Bombay High Court, finally setting the stage for a long-delayed showdown over Maharashtra’s controversial Maratha reservation law. After months of dormancy, the courtroom lights are back on — and the legal spotlight is now fixed on the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2024, which grants a 10% quota to the Maratha community.
On Thursday, a full bench featuring Justices Ravindra Ghuge, NJ Jamadar, and Sandeep Marne was officially constituted. Their mandate: to hear a stack of petitions — from civil writs to public interest pleas — questioning the constitutionality and implementation of the SEBC Act, 2024.
This move wasn’t voluntary. The Supreme Court, responding to a flurry of concerns raised by NEET 2025 aspirants over disruptions to academic admissions, stepped in on May 14, instructing the Bombay High Court to stop dragging its feet and assemble a bench without delay. Though the apex court refused to dig into the matter itself, it made clear that the issue could not be left to linger any longer, especially with thousands of students caught in limbo.
The challenge to the Maratha quota has been stuck in procedural purgatory for over a year. A previous bench, led by the then Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya along with Justices GS Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla, had made significant headway — petitioners finished their arguments in October 2024, and the state began its counter by November. But just as the matter was gaining momentum, it hit a wall: the Chief Justice was transferred to Delhi in January 2025, and the bench dissolved, leaving the case stranded.
Now, with judicial gears turning again, the fate of a politically charged law that shaped campaign promises and sparked statewide protests is once more in the hands of the courts. With the Maratha community making up nearly a third of Maharashtra’s population, and political tempers still running high, the verdict — whenever it comes — is bound to echo far beyond the courtroom.
