Mumbai, July 10 : The Maharashtra Assembly was adjourned for the day at 2.25 p.m on Wednesday after four adjournments and the completion of the day's agenda amid slogan shouting by the treasury bench members on the Maratha OBC reservation issue. They asked the opposition members to clarify whether they were in favour of providing reservation to the Maratha community separately or from the OBC quota instead of playing politics. They also took strong objection to the opposition skipping the all party meeting convened by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday to discuss the Maratha OBC quota issue amid the ongoing protests and arrive at a consensus to maintain social harmony.

Amid slogan shouting by the treasury benches, the assembly passed the supplementary demands worth Rs 94,889.06 crore. The resolution in this regard was moved by the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar.

The assembly passed the Appropriation Bill without any debate.

The assembly also passed without any debate the Maharashtra Competitive Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024' which has proposed stringent penalties for those found guilty of using unfair means and malpractices. According to the legislation, any person or persons resorting to unfair means will be punished with imprisonment for a term of not less than three years but which can extend to five years with a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh. The service provider will be liable to be punished with a fine of up to Rs 1 crore and the proportionate cost of the examination will also be recovered from such providers. They will not be assigned any responsibility for the conduct of any competitive examination for four years.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Legislative Council was also adjourned for the day amid pandemonium over the Maratha OBC quota issue.

/IANS