Maha govt accepts Eknath Shinde panel report to grant Kunbi certificates to Marathas

Maharashtra government accepted the first report of a committee headed by retired high court judge Sandeep Shinde, appointed to decide the procedure for granting Kunbi caste certificates to the Marathas in the Marathwada region.

According to an official statement, the process of issuing Kunbi certificates has commenced. The Kunbi community is entitled to reservation in the OBC category. This decision was made in response to activist Manoj Jarange's ongoing hunger strike for Maratha community reservation and the occurrence of violence related to the demand in various parts of the state.

The state cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, also decided that the OBC Commission will collect fresh empirical data to assess educational and social backwardness of the Maratha community. The first report of the Justice (retd) Sandeep Shinde committee has been submitted. The process of granting Kunbi certificates to Marathas has started,” the statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.

The cabinet also decided that a three-member panel headed by retired judge Dilip Bhosale and retired judges Shinde and Maroti Gaikwad would be formed to advise the government on the legal issues related to the Maratha quota demand, it added.

Last month, a five-member panel headed by Justice Shinde was set up to decide the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for giving Kunbi certificates to members of the Maratha community who (or whose ancestors) were referred to as Kunbis in Nizam-era documents. The Marathwada region of present-day Maharashtra was part of the Hyderabad state until 1948.