Mumbai, June 27 (IANS) In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the validity of reservations in education and government jobs granted to the Maratha community under the Socially and Educationally Backward Class category.

Vijayalaxmi Khopade, a lawyer for one of the petitioners, said that a division bench of Justicei Ranjit More and Justice Bharati Dangre also endorsed the report of the M.G. Gaikwad Commission classifying the Marathas as a socially and educationally backward class.

The court also said that the reservations given by Maharashtra government were based on justifiable data submitted by the Backward Class Commission, Khopade told IANS.

The ruling was greeted with cheers and celebrations among Marathas all over the state, giving a fillip to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena combine, barely four months before the assembly elections.

--IANS qn/vd