Govt interfered in Maha Backward Class panel's functioning: B L Killarikar

A member of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission who recently resigned from it along with a few others Tuesday accused the government of interfering in the panels functioningB L Killarikar who resigned as a member of the commission also said that while Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was ready for conducting a largescale survey of communities in the state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was not in its favour newswire PTI reportedLeader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly Vijay Wadettiwar earlier alleged that members of the state Backward Class Commission were being threatened and forced to resign He further informed the House that its chairman justice Anand Nirgude retired has also stepped downThe government tried to interfere in the functioning of the commission as it said that the affidavits which were to be submitted in various quotarelated cases in the Bombay High Court and which were finalised by the commission should be checked by the Advocate General and the state It said that nothing should be mentioned in the affidavit that will land the government in trouble Killarikar told reporters in Chhatrapati SambhajinagarThe chairman and secretary of the commission were asked to get the affidavits checked by the Advocate General and the government which intervened in the authority of the commission This is the key issue of resignation member B L Killarikar who recently resigned from the OBC commission told reporters in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on TuesdayThis was interference in the authority of the commission It was an attempt to deny independence to the commission This was a key issue behind resignations he saidHe also said the government was not ready to undertake a largescale survey of the communities in the state which would help the commission to decide the quota for different communitiesWhen the commission decides proposals related to reservation that time it needs detailed data of communities in the state With the help of this data only the commission takes a decision on providing reservation Killarikar saidAlso read Resignations in Maharashtra Backward Class Commission due to govt pressure OppositionSuch largescale data was not available with the commission So on August 12 2022 the commission unanimously passed a resolution and demanded Rs 400 crore from the government to make such data available With the help of this kind of data reservation issues in the state and cases before the judiciary would have been decided But the state government did not respond he saidWhen the issue of Maratha reservation landed before the commission its chairperson and member secretary were called for meetings with he government The discussion was on the lines that instead of surveying all the communities the survey should be conducted in a restricted manner The decision of the Maratha quota should be taken on the basis of the survey data he saidBut as the directives of the Supreme Court cannot be fulfilled with this we demanded a largescale survey With the data of social educational economic political representation of communities the quota issues would have been resolved Killarikar addedCM Shinde was ready for the survey but Fadnavis was not he saidThe commission chairperson said during the meeting that the chief minister was ready for a wider scale survey of communities in Maharashtra But we came to know that Fadnavis had raised a little objection to itFadnavis said that the survey should be limited and should be conducted by the Gokhale Institute But we cant tell the politics behind that he said With inputs from PTI