The Hindu : Front Page : The creamy layer categories

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006
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Front Page

The creamy layer categories

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi: The creamy layer concept was first introduced by the Supreme Court in the Mandal judgment delivered in November 1992 to indicate an elite group among the Other Backward Classes. The court asked the government to exclude the `creamy layer' from the purview of quotas to ensure that only the neediest among the OBCs benefited by reservation.

The court, in its judgment last Thursday, introduced exclusion of the creamy layer among the SC/STs for the first time.

As per the principles laid down in the Mandal judgment, the children of constitutional functionaries including the President, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, members of the Union Public Service Commission, Groups A and B or Class I or II officers of the All-India Central and State services and children of public sector employees are excluded from reservation.

Children of armed forces and paramilitary personnel in the rank of colonel or above are also excluded.

The other categories falling under the creamy layer include children of professionals such as lawyers, chartered accountants, doctors, financial and management consultants, engineers, film artists, authors and playwrights.

Further children of all OBCs, whose gross annual income is more than Rs. 2.5 lakhs, must not get the benefit of reservation.

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