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| | The Supreme Court has ruled that excluding the creamy layer from among those enjoying the benefits of reservations is a constitutional requirement which cannot be ignored by the Centre or the states. The creamy layer has been defined under various central and state government notifications for the purpose of excluding those falling under it from the benefits of quota. The children of those holding high government posts or having high income are categorised as belonging to the creamy layer. On Friday, a bench of justices SB Sinha and PP Naolekar said: “A group of persons although are not as such backward or have by passage of time ceased to be backward, would come within the purview of the creamy-layer doctrine evolved by this court. The court by evolving the said doctrine intended to lay down a law that in terms of our constitutional scheme no group of persons should be held to be more equal than the other group.” The bench quashed the Justice K.K. Narendran Commission report recommending raising the annual income limit from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh for the exclusion of the creamy layer from the backward class for the purpose of reservation in Kerala. The court asked the Kerala government to set up a fresh commission to go into all the aspects of the matter. The ruling comes at a time when the government is in the process of introducing 27 per cent OBC quota in centrally run or funded educational institutions -- without excluding the affluent among the OBCs. The decision is already under challenge before the apex court, which has issued a notice to the Centre. Email Satya Prakash: satya.prakash@hindustanimes.com |
