On reservations and the OBC creamy layer

  • July 29, 2024
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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On reservations and the OBC creamy layer

Subject: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context:

The allotment of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to Puja Khedkar as an Other Backward Class (OBC) Non-Creamy Layer (NCL) candidate coupled with multiple disabilities has raised issues surrounding the creamy layer in OBC reservation.

History of reservation:

  • Articles 15 and 16 guarantee equality to all citizens in any policy of the government and public employment respectively.
  • In order to achieve social justice, they also enable special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes or OBC, Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).
  • Reservations for SC and ST are fixed at 15% and 7.5% respectively, in jobs, educational institutions and public sector undertakings (PSU) at the central level.
  • It was in 1990, when V. P. Singh was Prime Minister, that 27% reservation for OBC was implemented in central government employment based on Mandal Commission (1980) recommendations.
  • Subsequently in 2005, reservation was enabled for OBC, SC and ST in educational institutions including private institutions.
  • In 2019, 10% reservation was enabled for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) among the unreserved category.

Mandal Commission:

  • The Mandal Commission or the Second Socially and Educationally Backward Classes, was established in India in 1979 with a mandate to “identify the socially or educationally backward classes” of India.
  • It was headed by B. P. Mandal and submitted its report in 1980 and was implemented in 1990.
  • Recommendations of Mandal Commission:
    • OBCs must be provided a reservation of 27% in public sector and government jobs.
    • They should be provided with the same 27% reservation in promotions at all levels of public services.
    • The reserved quota, if unfilled, should be carried forward for a period of 3 years.
    • OBCs should be provided age relaxation similar to SCs and STs.
    • Reservations to be made in PSUs, banks, private sector undertakings receiving government grants, colleges, and universities.
    • The government to make the necessary legal provisions to implement these recommendations.

Creamy layer:

  • The 27% reservation for OBC was upheld by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney case (1992). It opined that caste is a determinant of class in the Indian context.
  • However, in order to uphold the basic structure of equality, it fixed a cap of 50% for reservation unless there are exceptional circumstances. The court also provided for exclusion of creamy layer from OBC.
  • The criteria for identifying a person as part of the creamy layer is based on the recommendations of the Justice Ram Nandan Prasad Committee (1993).
  • It is determined by the position/income of an applicant’s parents alone.
  • The criteria for belonging to creamy layer is parental income, excluding income from salary and agricultural income, being more than ₹8 lakh in each year in the last three consecutive financial years.
  • Categories of applicants are also considered as belonging to creamy layer:

(a) parents, either of whom entered government service (centre or State) as Group A/Class I officer or parents, both of whom entered as Group B/Class II officers or father, who was recruited in Group B/Class II post and promoted to Group A/Class I before 40 years of age;

(b) either of the parents employed in a managerial position in PSUs;

(c) either of the parents holding constitutional posts.

Issues:

  • Some applicants manage to obtain NCL or EWS certificate through dubious means.
  • The same may also be true with respect to disability certificates in order to take benefit of the 4% of seats reserved for persons with disabilities in central government jobs.
  • There are also allegations of applicants and their parents adopting strategies to get around the creamy layer exclusion like gifting of assets, taking premature retirement etc., since the applicant’s or his/her spouse’s income is not considered for such exclusion.
  • Concentration of reservation benefits persists in the SC and ST category as well. There is neither any exclusion based on ‘creamy layer’ for these communities.
  • The reservation at present stands at 60%, including the reservation for EWS.
On reservations and the OBC creamy layer Polity