Mumbai, Jan 31 (IANS): In a fresh twist in the ongoing Maratha versus OBC reservations issue, an OBC group on Wednesday filed a plea in the Bombay High Court challenging the Maharashtra government's January 26 draft notification for the Maratha quotas.

The PIL has been filed by OBC Welfare Foundation Chairman Mangesh Sasane, who has challenged various decisions on the Maratha reservation for the past 20 years, starting from 2004.

It is likely to come up for hearing on Feb. 6 before Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya’s bench, said the petitioner’s lawyer, advocate Ashish Mishra.

Following a massive procession of Marathas, on January 27, the state government had issued a draft notification widening the scope of quotas for Marathas to avail Kunbi caste certificates and become eligible for reservation in jobs and education from the OBC quotas.

Mishra said that earlier the process of granting Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas was very cumbersome but with every agitation, the process became simpler and it was merely to facilitate the Marathas to get quotas from the OBC share.

The lawyer said that even the list of castes included in the OBC category has undergone many changes without giving any justification or even providing any data.

"It indicates that the list is more of a convenience and the communities included in the Maratha-Kunbi or Kunbi-Maratha are not in far-flung remotes areas, or out of the national mainstream or can be attributed with any peculiar or exceptional and extraordinary circumstances," he argued.

The state government’s decision was greeted by the Marathas but has been flayed by various OBC groups who apprehend it would cut into the OBC share, but this has been stoutly denied by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and other ministers.