MUMBAI, Sept. 19 -- A new three-judge bench of the Bombay High Court will commence a fresh hearing on October 9 on petitions challenging Maharashtra's 10% Maratha reservation, after the previous two benches could not complete the hearing and pronounce a verdict. The bench comprises Justices Makarand Karnik, Nizamoodin Jamadar and Sandeep Marne. The petitions challenge the constitutional validity of the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Act, 2024, which provides 10% reservation to the Maratha community in education and government jobs. This is the third three-judge bench to hear the case. The first comprised then Chief Justice Devendra Upadhyay and Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla. After Upadhyay was transferred to the Delhi high court in January 2025, the high court constituted another bench headed by Justice Ravindra Ghuge, along with Justices Jamadar and Marne, in May 2025. The second bench had heard substantial arguments from May 2025 until August this year. Justice Ghuge was subsequently elevated as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on September 9, prompting the constitution of the new bench headed by Justice Karnik. The court clarified on Friday that it will commence fresh hearing in the case from October 9. The 2024 law was passed by the Maharashtra legislature in February 2024 after a report by the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, headed by Justice (retd) Sunil Shukre. The law classified the Maratha community as a Socially and Educationally Backward Class and provided 10% reservation, taking the state's overall reservation beyond the 50% ceiling by citing "exceptional circumstances" such as economic distress. The petitioners have relied on the Supreme Court's May 2021 Constitution bench judgment in the Jaishri Laxmanrao Patil case, in which the court struck down the earlier 2018 Maharashtra law providing reservation to Marathas. The Supreme Court held that the exceptional circumstances required to breach the 50% ceiling had not been established. The earlier law had provided 16% reservation to Marathas in education and government employment. The Bombay high court had reduced the quota to 12% in education and 13% in government jobs before the Supreme Court struck down the legislation in 2021. A subsequent review petition was dismissed in 2023, while a curative petition remains pending before the Supreme Court. After the 2024 law was challenged, the Bombay High Court had in April 2024 said that admissions and recruitment availing the Maratha quota would remain subject to further orders in the petitions challenging the reservation. The new bench will now hear the challenge from the beginning from October 9....