Hours before a petition was filed challenging the reservation given to the Maratha community, the Maharashtra government moved swiftly to lodge a caveat claiming a right to be heard first in the matter.
The plea filed in the Supreme Court by State counsel Nishant Katneswarkar on Monday urged that no order be passed in the matter without notice to the Maharashtra government.
“The caveator [the Maharashtra government] was the authorised party who issued the Maharashtra Act,” reads the plea, a copy of which is in possession of The Hindu.
The State government had passed the draft Act giving the Maratha community 16% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions last week. Senior officials said the caveat lodged under Section 148 A (right to lodge a caveat) of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) is to ensure not only that the State counsel gets a “fair chance” to defend the proposed Bill, but he is heard even before any interim relief is granted by the courts.
‘Routine process’
“The Government is positive about this case and wants to ensure it is heard before an interim relief is granted. This is a routine process since the time the provision for a caveat [Section 148A CPC] was inserted by Section 104 of the Act in 1976,” said Rajendra Bhagwat, Secretary, Law and Judiciary, Government of Maharashtra (GoM). Mr. Bhagwat added that the caveat is merely a legal formality in anticipation of the courts granting a hearing in the matter concerned.
Published - December 03, 2018 12:22 pm IST
