Govt seeks time to share TISS report on Dhangar reservation with Bombay HC

Observing that the state’s move to not disclose the report as “incongruous”, the court has given directives to the state to submit its final stand on submission of the report before the next hearing.

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TISS submitted its report to the state government in 2017 and since then the government has refused to make it public.

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The Maharashtra government has refused to share the report prepared by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on the issue of granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Dhangar community in the state in the ongoing court case at the Bombay High Court.

Observing that the state’s move to not disclose the report as “incongruous”, the court has given directives to the state to submit its final stand on submission of the report before the next hearing.

According to the government, the report is yet to be accepted or rejected by it. The report has to be first presented before the legislature and only then it can be put on a public domain.

“In the meantime, there is another question that has arisen about the claim of privilege under Section 123 of the Evidence Act once made in a formal application by the State Government to withhold disclosure of a particular report of a study group commissioned by the State Government.

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That report is referred to in the two affidavits that have been filed on behalf of the Government,” observed the bench of Justice Neela Gokhale and Justice G S Patel, in the court order dated April 12.

It further said that the application was allowed without a reference to the affidavits and without contest because the petitioner did not oppose the privilege application by the state government for non- disclosure of the report in question.

The court order asked senior advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to take instructions from the government on the issue.

“…since, on the one hand, the State Government affidavits not only refer to the report but also purport to summarise some of its contents… At the same time there was this application to withhold disclosure. The two seem to be incompatible, even incongruous,” the order said.

The next hearing of the case was scheduled on June 7, but now it will be held on July 13.

On the backdrop of Dhangar community’s demand to grant them Scheduled Tribe status in November 2015, the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that TISS will prepare a detailed survey report on the community, taking into account all parameters that are required to ascertain reservation.

“The report is still under consideration and once the government decides whether to accept it or reject it or partially accept it then, as proprietary , it will be first placed before the legislature. Then only it could go into public domain,” Fadnavis told The Indian Express.

“Unless the decision is adequately backed with documents, it would not withstand legally and constitutionally,” he had said.

Fadnavis and his party BJP had announced prior to the Assembly polls in 2014 that if voted to power, the BJP government would provide reservation to the Dhangar community in the first Cabinet meeting.

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Since then the issue has been pending. Tribal community has opposed the inclusion of Dhangars in the Scheduled Tribe category.