The Supreme Court has ruled that income cannot be the sole criterion to determine the creamy layer among other backward classes (OBCs). The top court held that the determination of creamy layer status should be the same for wards of public sector or private employees as it is for government employees.
A bench of justices PS Narasimha and R Mahadevan said that the object of excluding the creamy layer is to ensure that socially advanced sections within the OBCs do not appropriate benefits meant for the genuinely backward.
The high courts of Madras, Delhi, and Kerala had considered the cases of three OBC candidates seeking entry into the civil services based on their scores in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination. Upon verification of their entitlement, the three were classified as belonging to the creamy layer.
The high courts relied on the office memorandum (OM) of 1993 and a clarification letter issued by the Centre in 2004 to conclude that the wards of OBC parents working in PSUs and the private sector are being discriminated against when it comes to creamy layer determination.
The top court agreed with the view of the high courts, saying that any interpretation of the 1993 OM or the 2004 letter that results in unequal treatment of similarly placed OBC candidates would be legally erroneous and constitutionally impermissible.
