CENTRE TO SC: CREAMY LAYER CANNOT BE APPLIED TO SC’s/ST’s

Creamy layer is a term used in Indian politics to refer to the relatively forward and better-educated members of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) who are not eligible for government-sponsored educational and professional benefit programs.

“Creamy Layer” hypothesis cannot appertain to SC’s/ ST’s agonized for centuries, government told Supreme Court on Thursday arguing before a five-judge Constitutional Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

Attorney General K.K.Venugopal put forward that reorganizing the Homogeneous group i.e. SC’s/ST’s based on economic and social advancement would be unfitting. He added that meticulous sense of equality were stipulated for the insertion of communities in the list of SC’s/ ST ’s, for example, the insertion of communities in the SC’s the determining factor being the customary practice of Untouchability.

The government desires a larger Bench of Supreme Court to set aside its Judgment in the 2006 Nagraj Case which instructs that the government cannot introduce quota in promotions for SC/ST unless the backwardness of the said community, inadequate representation as well as the reservation in promotion would not affect the overall efficiency of the public administration is proved and that the perspective of the government must be based on quantifiable data.

 The said Nagraj Case is a deadlock in its authority to introduce quota in promotions as per Article 16(4A) of the Indian Constitution as it fails to define the term “quantifiable data” and the State had to prove the above.

The audacity of the Constitution itself presumes the backwardness of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and its undisputed fact that they have been specified in the notification issued under Article 341 and 342 of the Constitution and therefore they are deemed to be SC’s/ST’s and should not be deprived of the benefits that accrue to them. Venugopal added that adequate representation would be satisfied only by quantum where 22.5% (15% for SC +7% for ST) posts are reserved for promotion for SC’s/ST’s in public employment.

Submitted by: Vedant Agrawal,

Student Reporter INBA