The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided that Kunbi caste certificates will be issued to those Marathas hailing from Marathwada region who possess revenue or education documents from the Nizam era that recognise them as Kunbis, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said.
Kunbis (the community associated with agriculture) are grouped under the Other Backward Classes category in Maharashtra.
Shinde told reporters a five-member panel headed by judge Sandeep Shinde (retired) will determine the standard operating procedure, including legal and administrative framework, for giving caste certificates to members of the Maratha community referred to as Kunbis in the Nizam-era documents.
The panel will submit its report in a month. additional chief secretary (revenue), principal secretary (law and justice), and collectors of concerned districts (in Marathwada) will be members of this committee.
The divisional commissioner, Aurangabad, will be the member secretary of the panel.
Quota protester Manoj Jarange, who has been on hunger strike for the last eight days in Jalna district, has been demanding that Marathas in Marathwada be recognised as Kunbis based on their old records from the Nizam era.
Marathwada region was part of the erstwhile Hyderabad kingdom before it became part of Maharashtra. -- PTI