Muslim Reservation In Maharashtra: Origin, Legal Struggle And Present Position
Amirkhan Dildar Pathan, LL.B., AKK New Law Academy, Pune
ABSTRACT
Muslim reservation in Maharashtra has been argued over for more than a decade now, and it remains one of the State’s more contested social justice questions. Back in July 2014, the government of the day gave five per cent reservation in education and public jobs to fifty-two Muslim communities, grouped under a newly created ‘Special Backward Category-A’. The Bombay High Court stayed the jobs part but let the education quota stand; the underlying ordinance then lapsed in December 2014 without ever being turned into law, and on 17 February 2026 the State formally withdrew the administrative framework that had been built around it. This paper traces how Muslim reservation developed historically, looks at what the Sachar, Ranganath Misra and Mehmoodur Rahman committees actually found, works through the constitutional principles and case law on reservation based on backwardness rather than religion, compares the experience of other States, and takes stock of where things stand today. The central argument is that the real obstacle here has been legislative and procedural, not constitutional – and that a durable way forward lies in properly identifying backward Muslim communities through data, followed by actual legislation.
Keywords: Muslim reservation; Maharashtra; backward classes; Articles 15 and 16; Sachar Committee; Indra Sawhney
