"Data and facts which have been collected by the Gaikwad Commission ...indicate that Marathas are neither socially nor educationally backward"
That was just one of the views expressed by a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court on 5 May when it struck down the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act of 2018, also known as SEBC, which extended reservations to the Maratha community in public education and employment in excess of the ceiling limit of 50% fixed by the apex court.
The Devendra Fadnavis government in 2018 had approved a 16% reservation for Marathas in jobs and education after statewide protests...that ended up increasing the 50% cap on reservation that was set by the Supreme Court, that's how the matter landed up there.