Centre turns down Supreme Court’s call for SC/ST creamy layer exclusion

On August 1, a seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in a landmark 6-1 majority verdict, ruled that Scheduled Castes do not constitute a socially homogeneous class and can be sub-classified by States for the purpose of providing reservation to the less privileged among them. Four judges favoured excluding the creamy layer from the SC/ST quota.

Briefing reporters Friday night on the decisions taken by the Cabinet, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said there was a detailed discussion at the Cabinet meeting on the Supreme Court judgment that made certain suggestions on reservation for SCs, STs.

He said the Cabinet is of a well-thought-out view that the NDA government is committed towards the provisions of the Constitution. “According to the Constitution given by B R Ambedkar, there is no provision for a creamy layer in the SC/ST reservation,” Vaishnaw said.

He said the provision for SC/ST reservation should be in accordance with the Constitution.

Earlier, after the party’s SC, ST MPs met the Prime Minister, Bulandshahr MP Bhola Singh told The Indian Express: “We informed him of our concerns regarding the observations made by the honourable Supreme Court judges about the creamy layer among SC/ST communities. He assured that the government would not take any steps and reiterated that it stands for the welfare of SC and ST communities.”

In a post on X, Modi said: “Met a delegation of SC/ST MPs today. Reiterated our commitment and resolve for the welfare and empowerment of the SC/ST communities.”

Suresh Kumar Kashyap, a BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh, said this was the only agenda of their meeting with the PM. “We met the Prime Minister just to give the memorandum, but he assured us that the government would not take any step in this direction. The Prime Minister mentioned that it (what the court said) was just an observation and not binding on the government.”

BJP MP from Delhi Yogender Chandolia said: “This observation was not a part of the verdict, but our opponents are spreading rumours that the BJP-led government wants to bring in creamy layer (exclusion). So, we formally met the PM, who assured us there was no question of a creamy layer for SC/STs. The BJP, our party president and the PM are all on the same page on this.””

BJP MP Faggan Singh Kulaste, ST leader from Madhya Pradesh, also spoke of the PM’s assurance and said: “Four judges of the Supreme Court expressed their opinion that there should be creamy layer exclusion among SC/STs, but it was not part of the Court ruling.”

The MPs said that as far as the Supreme Court’s overall verdict allowing states to go ahead with sub-categorisation within the SC/STs goes, that was not a topic of discussion.

The BJP has not officially stated its stance on the August 1 judgment. Its ally LJP (Ram Vilas), whose vote bank is Dalit, has expressed its disagreement with the verdict and said it would file a review petition.