Maharashtra Govt Formally Scraps 5% Muslim Reservation Announced in 2014
Mumbai,18th February 2026: More than a decade after it was first announced in the heat of an election season, Maharashtra’s contentious 5 per cent reservation for Muslims has been formally buried, with the state government issuing a fresh order that shuts the door on a policy long stalled by legal hurdles.
The Government of Maharashtra has officially scrapped the quota in education and public employment that was introduced through a 2014 ordinance, but never translated into law. In a new Government Resolution (GR), the state’s Social Justice Department cancelled all earlier circulars and administrative directives linked to the Special Backward Class-A (SBC-A) category created for the purpose of extending reservation benefits to Muslims.
The resolution makes it clear that no further admissions to government-run educational institutions or recruitment to government and semi-government services will take place under the withdrawn SBC-A category. It also directs authorities not to issue any new caste or caste validity certificates in connection with the defunct quota. Officials stated that since the 2014 ordinance was never approved by the legislature, it lapsed and therefore lacked enduring legal validity. The latest move, they said, merely formalises a position that had already been settled in law.
The reservation was originally announced in 2014 by the then Congress–NCP government ahead of the Assembly elections. It proposed a 5 per cent quota for Muslims in educational admissions and public employment, placing nearly 50 Muslim communities under a newly carved-out SBC-A category to operationalise the measure.
However, the policy faced immediate legal scrutiny. On November 14, 2014, the Bombay High Court stayed its implementation. Under constitutional requirements, the ordinance had to be converted into a law by December 23, 2014. The legislature did not pass the necessary legislation within the stipulated timeframe, leading to the lapse of the ordinance and preventing the quota from acquiring statutory backing.
The debate over Muslim reservation drew on the findings of several expert panels that examined the socio-economic status of the community. These included the Sachar Committee, the Ranganath Mishra Commission, and the Mehmoodur Rehman Committee, all of which highlighted educational and economic disadvantages and recommended targeted affirmative measures, including reservation benefits. Despite such recommendations, constitutional and judicial constraints ultimately stood in the way of implementing the 2014 proposal.
With the issuance of the latest Government Resolution, the Maharashtra government has now formally closed the chapter on a policy that remained legally untenable for over ten years, marking the end of one of the state’s most debated affirmative action initiatives.
