Government Should Have Brought Bill To Nullify Supreme Court’s ‘Creamy Layer’ Observation: Mallikarjun Kharge

Asserting that the idea of denying reservation to SCs and STs on account of the ‘creamy layer’ concept is “condemnable”, the Congress on Saturday said the government should have brought legislation in Parliament to nullify that part of the Supreme Court judgment that talks about the issue.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said while the party was holding deliberations with intellectuals, experts and NGOs on the Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to create sub-categorisation within the SCs and STs and will take a call after detailed discussions, it is opposed to that part which advocates the creamy layer concept.

Earlier this month, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ruled in a 6:1 majority judgment that state governments were permitted to sub-classify communities within the SC list based on empirical data.

Supreme Court judge BR Gavai had said states must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even among the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Schedule Tribes (ST) and deny them the benefit of reservation.

Justice Gavai penned a separate but concurring judgment in which the top court by a majority verdict said the states are empowered to make sub-classifications of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for granting quotas within the reserved category to uplift those who belong to the more underprivileged castes.

“Who do you want to benefit by bringing a creamy layer? By bringing a creamy layer (concept) on one hand you are denying untouchables and giving to those who have enjoyed privileges for thousands of years. I condemn this,” Mr Kharge told reporters here.

This issue of creamy layer that has been raised by the seven judges shows that they have not thought about SCs and STs in a serious manner, he said.

“Till the time untouchability exists, reservation should be there and will be there. We will fight for it,” Mr Kharge said.

He accused the BJP of seeking to end reservation.

On one hand the government has privatised the public sector jobs and on the other hand, there are a lot of vacancies, but they are not recruiting, Mr Kharge said.

“SCs and STs are not able to get jobs. No SCs are at the high-level positions. They are trying to suppress the SCs and STs by classifying them in a creamy layer,” he said.

“I found the court’s decision surprising. There are people who are facing untouchability in real life and those people belonging to SCs and STs even on high posts are facing discrimination. If they have money, even then they face discrimination,” the Congress chief said.

“I would like to appeal that all people should unite and ensure that this judgment (the part pertaining to the creamy layer) does not get recognition and this matter should not be raised again,” he added.

The Congress is discussing other things related to sub-categorisation and will decide on further steps after discussion with intellectuals and leaders of various states, he said.

“We will do everything possible for the protection of SCs and STs,” Mr Kharge said.

The party is undertaking consultations with different people – intellectuals, experts, NGOs – to decide on the nuances of other aspects of the judgment, he said.

“I read that the PM said we will not touch this. To ensure that creamy layer (concept) will not be implemented, they should have brought (legislation) in Parliament and nullified the Supreme Court judgment,” he said.

“If the government wanted, it could have resolved this issue by bringing a constitutional amendment in this session itself. If the Modi government can bring a new bill within 2-3 hours, then this was also possible,” Mr Kharge said.

The seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court gave its decision in which it talked about sub-categorization for SC-ST category people, he noted.

In this decision, the creamy layer concept was also talked about in SC-ST category reservation, he said.

“The Scheduled Caste people in India first got reservation through Baba Saheb Dr. Ambedkar’s Poona Pact. Later, due to the contribution of Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, it was recognized in the Constitution and implemented in jobs and educational institutions as well,” Mr Kharge said.

“But even after 70 years, when we see the recruitment of SC and ST communities in government jobs, we find that the vacancies are still not being filled, most of the posts are vacant. Which means that the people of these classes, even collectively, are not able to fill these posts. They still cannot compete with the people of the general category,” he said.

And the most important thing is that the basis of reservation was not the economic development of any community or individual but it is to eradicate untouchability that has been prevalent in society for thousands of years, the Congress chief said.

“And it has still not been eradicated from society. We come across many examples every day,” he said.

Therefore, it is wrong to talk about creamy layer in the SC-ST community and the Congress party is against it, Mr Kharge said.

Mr Kharge’s remarks come a day after the Union Cabinet asserted that there was no provision for a creamy layer in the reservation for SCs and STs in the Constitution given by B R Ambedkar.

The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, held a detailed discussion on the Supreme Court judgment on the sub-categorisation of reservation for SCs and STs as granted in the Constitution.

“It is the well thought view of the Union Cabinet that the NDA government is firmly committed to the provisions in the Constitution given by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters here.