Why it is in the news
On 18 September 2026, the Bombay High Court clarified that the batch of petitions challenging the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2024 — the law granting the Maratha community a 10% quota in education and public employment — will be argued de novo before a newly constituted full bench of Justice M.S. Karnik (presiding), Justice N.J. Jamadar and Justice S.V. Marne, with the fresh hearing to begin on 9 October 2026.
The exam angle
Issue: Whether the 50% ceiling on reservation — a judicially crafted rule rather than a constitutional text — can accommodate a State-specific quota for a numerically large agrarian community, and what evidentiary standard a State must satisfy to claim the “extraordinary situation” exception.