Migrants not entitled to benefit of reservation in Maharashtra: Bombay HC – Hindustan Times

Migrants as contemplated under the Maharashtra Caste Certificate Act, 2012 are not entitled to the benefit of reservation in Maharashtra, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court (HC) held.

The bench of justice SV Gangapurwala and justice Shrikant Kulkarni said the 2012 enactment and the rules framed under it, provide a cut-off date and the persons who have entered Maharashtra on or after the cut-off dates, are treated as deemed migrants, who are not entitled to the benefit of reservation.

These observations came while the bench dismissed the petition filed by Aruna Kudmulwar, president of Kundalwadi municipal council in Nanded district, seeking review of the order passed by the bench on June 16, 2020, by which her petition was dismissed by the bench.

She had approached HC challenging October 22, 2018, the decision of the caste scrutiny committee at Nanded, refusing to verify her caste claim that she belonged to Manner Kapu caste, a nomadic tribe (NT-B) in Maharashtra.

The caste scrutiny committee had refused to verify her claim on the ground that she was not entitled to the benefit of reservation in Maharashtra for being a ‘migrant’ in terms of the 2012 enactment – having migrated to Maharashtra after the cut-off date provided in the rules made under the Act.

Kudmulwar, who was born and brought in Hyderabad, had shifted to Maharashtra after her marriage to a Kundalwadi resident in May 1987. She claimed that she belonged to Munnur Kapu caste, which was included in NT-B category (part of OBC) in Maharashtra only in January 2014, and since she had migrated to the state much before the date, she was entitled to the benefit of the reservation provided for the caste. Before January 2014, the caste was included in the special backward class.

HC on June 16 dismissed her petition and confirmed the decision of the caste scrutiny committee. The bench said a perusal of the Caste Certificate Rules, 2012, demonstrates that the deemed date for Special Backward Classes is October 13, 1967, and that for Nomadic Tribe is November 21, 1961.

The bench added that under the rules, a person who has migrated to Maharashtra on or after the deemed date is termed as ‘migrants’ and they are not entitled to the benefit of reservation in the state, and dismissed Kudmulwar’s petition, as she shifted to the stare much after the cut-off dates.

She had sought review if the June 16 order contending that she cannot be termed a “migrant” since she has been residing in the state for over 30 years and since competent authorities are authorised to issue caste certificates to persons domiciled in Maharashtra – persons residing in the state for 15 years or more, she could not have been denied the benefit of reservation.

The argument, however, failed to impress upon the bench which rejected the review petition noting that the petitioner, having migrated to Maharashtra after the cut-off date, was a migrant and this not entitled to claim the benefit of reservation.