The Maharashtra government on Saturday issued a notification to recognise as Kunbis all blood relatives of the Maratha community members whose Kunbi caste records have been found.

Kunbi, an agrarian community, falls in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange, who spearheads the agitation over the reservation issue, has been demanding Kunbi certificates for all Marathas.

The notification says the draft rules may be called the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-Notified Tribes, Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

The notification says that the Kunbi caste certificates will be issued upon submission of an affidavit by the applicant establishing relations with his blood relatives - uncle, nephew and other members of his family as well as "patriarchal" relatives, who have found Kunbi records being the applicants' "sage soyare" (blood relatives).

After conducting a field inquiry and verification, the Kunbi caste certificates will be issued immediately, it said.

The word 'sage soyare' includes relatives of the applicant's father, grandfather, great grandfather and in earlier generations forming out of marriages within the same castes. This will include relations forming out of marriages within the same caste, it said.

The rules say 'sage soyare' were relations of persons belonging to the Maratha community whose records of being Kunbi have been found and will be given Kunbi caste certificates.

Relations forming out of marriages within the same caste of a person who has record of being a Kunbi, will also be given the caste certificate, it said.

"All the 'sage soyare' being in relation of the persons belonging to the Maratha community, whose record of being Kunbi has been found shall be given certificates on the basis of the Kunbi records of such persons belonging to Maratha community," the notification said.

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