New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that the “creamy layer” concept or principle would not apply for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes reservations and the NDA government would not pass any order for the removal of the “creamy layer” among SC/STs.
Additional solicitor-general P.S. Narasimha made this submission before a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A.M. Kanwilkar, hearing a petition filed by the Rajasthan-based Samta Andolan Samiti and nine members of this society who belong to the poor and downtrodden strata of SC/ST seeking removal of the “creamy layer”.
The ASG submitted that an order passed by the President of India under Article 341 of the Constitution would not include “creamy layer” and this principle would not apply to SC/STs. He also made it clear that the Centre will not remove the creamy layer from among SC/STs from the purview of reservation.
Article 341 says “the President may with respect to any state or Union territory, and where it is a state after consultation with the governor thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be SC in relation to that state or Union territory, as the case may be”.
However, counsel Gopal Sankaranarayan for the samiti said quota would not apply for third-generation SC/STs as they would come within the ambit of creamy layer.
