Mumbai: The administration will implement the Bombay High Court directives on Manoj Jarange-led Maratha quota protest, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday.
This assurance comes shortly after the HC noted that Jarange and his supporters have prima facie violated the conditions.
A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad stated that since the protesters do not have valid permission to continue the stir, it expects the state government to follow the due procedure laid down in law by initiating appropriate steps.
The government shall also ensure that no more protesters, as claimed by Jarange, shall enter the city henceforth, it said.
“The government will implement the High Court directives,” Fadnavis told reporters in Pune and rejected the charge that law and order had collapsed.
“There have been sporadic incidents (related to Maratha demonstrations) which have been cleared by police within minutes,” he said.
On resolving the protest, Fadnavis further said that discussions can’t take place on the mic, and we should know whom to hold talks with. We are not adamant.”
He also said that legal options were discussed in a meeting held this morning.
Situation grim: Bombay HC on Maratha protest
The Bombay High Court on Monday noted the city has been brought to a standstill due to the ongoing Maratha quota agitation, and the situation is grim as reservation campaigner Manoj Jarange hardened his stand by giving up water on day four of the stir.
The HC, while observing the protest has not been peaceful and has violated all pre-stir conditions, urged for normalcy to be restored in Mumbai, and gave an opportunity to Jarange, spearheading the stir, and his supporters to rectify the situation and ensure all streets are vacated by Tuesday noon.
It asked the Maharashtra government why the streets occupied by agitators, who have come to Mumbai from different parts of the state, are not being cleared and directed it to ensure more protesters do not enter the metropolis.
While the quota agitation and its fallout were argued in the HC, a few 100 metres away at Azad Maidan, the site of the stir in south Mumbai, the 43-year-old activist remained unrelenting as he warned more than five crore Marathas will descend on the metropolis if Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis does not listen to the quota demands of the numerically strong community.
Sounding a conciliatory note amid the deadlock, senior minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who heads a cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation, asserted the Mahayuti government was working on a solution which will stand in a court of law.
Jarange has been staging a hunger strike at Azad Maidan since Friday (August 29), demanding a 10 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
Activist Manoj Jarange stopped drinking water on Monday as his hunger strike at Azad Maidan over the Maratha quota demand entered the fourth day. (PTI)
He stopped drinking water from Monday, his supporters claimed.
Also ReadWill stop drinking water from tomorrow: Fasting Maratha leader Jarange
A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad, in a special hearing, said the protesters have not remained at Azad Maidan — the designated place for the agitation — and blocked several vital areas in south Mumbai.
“The situation is grim and the city of Mumbai has been practically brought to a standstill,” the court said.
The protesters have gathered at vital places such as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Churchgate railway stations, Marine Drive promenade and even the high court building, it said.
The court noted the agitation was not peaceful and that Jarange and the other protesters have violated each and every condition laid down by authorities when permission was granted to hold a peaceful protest at Azad Maidan.
“We are giving Jarange and his supporters an opportunity to rectify the situation immediately and ensure the streets are vacated and cleaned up by Tuesday noon,” the bench said.
The court said as Jarange and his supporters have prima facie violated the conditions and since they do not have valid permission to continue the protest, it expects the state government to follow the due procedure laid down in law by initiating appropriate steps.
The government shall also ensure that no more protesters, as claimed by Jarange, shall enter the city henceforth, it maintained,
The bench, while posting the matter for further hearing on Tuesday, said if by then Jarange’s health worsens, the government shall administer medical assistance to him.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf told the court that permission for the protest was granted only till August 29.
Jarange and his supporters have violated every single condition and undertaking, he argued.
The bench said Jarange’s undertaking to the police that he would abide by all conditions laid down in the rules for public gathering, agitation and protest was merely a “lip service”.
“We can see how peaceful the protest is. The high court building is surrounded. The entry gates for the judges and lawyers are blocked. The cars of high court judges were blocked today and prevented from coming to court today. The entire city has been blocked,” it said.
If Jarange’s statement that lakhs of more such protesters will come in, then how does the state government plan to deal with the situation, the court asked.
“He has said he will go on a fast till death and will not leave Mumbai till his demands are met. He (Jarange) is giving a clear threat. Why is the state government not getting the roads cleared? As per the assurance given by Jarange, life in Mumbai will not come to standstill. Every assurance is violated,” the bench said.
Why are the protesters not sitting only at Azad Maidan and loitering everywhere else, the court sought to know.
“We want normalcy. Protesters are bathing and cooking and defecating on the streets,” the HC said.
The bench said it, too, was worried about Jarange and said while every citizen has the right to protest, it has to be done in a peaceful manner and within permissible limits.
The HC took up for hearing the issue after several petitions were filed raising concerns over the protests going out of hand and bringing the city to a standstill.
Earlier in the day, doctors examined the health of Jarange, who according to his supporters, stopped drinking water on day four of the hunger strike.
The activist accused Fadnavis of deliberately delaying a decision on the issue.
“It is so easy to take a decision (on providing quota to Marathas). The government has to just say it is implementing Hyderabad, Satara and other gazetteers and declare all Marathas in Marathwada as Kunbis. The distribution of such certificates can be done by district collectors and tehsildars,” Jarange claimed.
Hundreds of Maratha community members gathered at CSMT and other areas in south Mumbai, causing traffic congestion and inconvenience to commuters.
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