‘Can’t make backward class commission report public’

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government told the Bombay high court that the backward class commission report cannot be made public as it contains the history of the Maratha community which can create unrest.

A division bench of Justices N.H. Patil and Makarand Karnika on December 10 asked the government if it was willing to make public the report submitted by the state backward class commission, on whose recommendations the government introduced the legislation. To this, the government counsel, V.A. Thorat, and advocate general Ashutosh Kum-bhakoni said that while the government was duty-bound to submit a copy of the report to the court, it had some apprehensions about giving the report to lawyers who had filed petitions, and making it public.

“There are some portions which are not relevant to the recommendations but pertain to the history of the Maratha community. This we feel may create social unrest. Some wounds, though healed, if opened, may create unrest,” said AG Kumbhakoni said. Mr Thorat said that those portions were “volatile” in nature.