SC on creamy layer

·         On April 10, 2008 the Supreme Court held that the “creamy layer” among the OBC cannot take benefit of 27 per cent quota in central educational institutions as “they are economically advanced and educationally forward”,

·         In its landmark judgment, it said the government should use the 1993 memorandum for identifying the creamy layer, which says a person having gross annual income of Rs 2.5 lakh or more should be excluded from the benefits of reservation.

·         A five member constitutional bench headed by the Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan asked the government to draw parameters to identify the creamy layer.

·         Justice Arijit Pasayat said: “Unless creamy layer is removed, OBCs cannot exercise their group right”.

·         On April 10, 2008 Youth for Equality (YFE), a students' organisation that spearheaded the anti-reservation agitation last year against the 27 percent quota for other backward classes (OBC), announced to challenge the Supreme Court verdict upholding the quota.

·         The YFE said it would approach the court to ensure that post-graduate and other higher educational courses are free from OBC reservation.

·         On April 10, 2008 while political parties of all hues predictably welcomed the Supreme Court judgment on the 27 per cent quota for OBCs in centrally-run institutions of higher education, UP CM Mayawati added to the Congress party’s discomfiture by seeking extension of reservations for economically weaker sections of upper castes and minorities.

·         Having succeeded in forging a successful rainbow coalition of Brahmins, minorities and Dalits, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief’s demand is primarily aimed at protecting her turf and at creating problems for the Congress, which is worried that today’s judgment could mean a loss of upper caste support for the grand old party.