Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Landmark verdict

The Supreme Court's pronouncement that the "creamy layer" among the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes must be excluded from the purview of reservation in public employment and promotions is a landmark judgment.

The verdict is also an indirect indictment of the other two pillars of democracy — the executive and the legislature — which have failed to restrict a few sections from enjoying the benefits of reservation for years.

Let our politicians and bureaucrats come up with bold remedial measures to remove socio-economic injustices instead of branding the apex court's observation "judicial activism."

T. Selvaraj,
Chennai

The Supreme Court has injected a semblance of fairness into the current reservation policy that has become blatantly discriminatory, having been hijacked by people practising vote-bank politics.

Identifying the "creamy layer" is not difficult since it is harder to hide expenditure than income.

C.S. Ramalingam,
Chennai

The verdict will definitely make the reservation policy more effective. In spite of the policy being in existence all these years, there has hardly been any change in the lifestyle of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

The `creamy layer' among them has siphoned off the benefits meant for the most marginalised.

Hilda Raja,
Chennai

A welcome ruling. However, the promotion issue should be reviewed once again as promotions should be based on the efficiency of an employee and not on caste. Caste-based promotions will bring in a sense of inequality among the employees of an organisation and hamper its growth.

R. Akhil Ratheesh,
Thiruvananthapuram

The decision is a boon for thousands of deserving Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; they will no longer be overshadowed by the more powerful among them. Be it in admissions to educational institutions or in government jobs, the "creamy layer" has always had the upper hand.

P.U. Krishnan,
Udhagamandalam, T.N.

A long overdue verdict. It vindicates the popular perception that the reservation policy is flawed and misused even as it perpetuates the glaring inequities in society.

P.K. Varadarajan,
Chennai

Defining the "creamy layer" is difficult, because the meaning changes for each class of people and from place to place and situation to situation.

Implementation of the decision will need an elaborate debate and consensus among the communities concerned.

R. Prathaban,
Puducherry,

A commendable decision but there is a need to set a time-frame for continuing the reservation policy. The system should be revamped to create identical opportunities for all sections of society, irrespective of caste or religion.

A nation cannot progress on the basis of an indefinite caste-based quota system in education and employment.

Salman Zafar,
Roorkee, Uttaranchal

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