New Delhi, March 10 – The Supreme Court issued a notice on Tuesday regarding a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the implementation of the "cream layer" principle within reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, and comprising Justices R. Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi, sought responses from the Union government, as well as state governments and Union Territory (UT) administrations, in this matter, and linked the plea to a pending petition seeking similar relief.
The latest petition, filed by former bureaucrat Gyanendra Kumar Khare, has included the Centre, all state governments, UTs, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as respondents.
The petition, filed under Article 32 of the Constitution, argues that the continued non-implementation of the cream layer exclusion within SC/ST reservations is "arbitrary, unconstitutional, and violates the basic structure of the Constitution".
According to the petition, reservations under the Constitution were conceived as a remedial measure to address historical injustice and structural inequality, but were never intended to be a permanent or unconditional entitlement.
"The continued non-exclusion of the cream layer has serious national consequences, as it fosters resentment between reserved and non-reserved categories and concentrates power and opportunity in the hands of the elite," the PIL stated.
It further argued that the absence of cream layer exclusion has led to internal stratification within SC/ST communities, creating a "class within a class" where relatively advanced families repeatedly avail reservation benefits while the most disadvantaged sections remain excluded.
"Allowing affluent SC/STs to repeatedly avail such benefits deprives poorer members of the community of opportunities to escape poverty and undermines economic justice and national development," the petition added.
The petitioner has sought directions to the Centre and states to evolve a mechanism for identifying and excluding the cream layer within SC/ST reservations in order to ensure that the benefits of affirmative action reach the most disadvantaged sections of society.
The petition relied on various judgments of the Supreme Court, including the landmark Indra Sawhney vs. Union of India ruling that introduced the concept of cream layer for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as well as subsequent decisions emphasising the need to ensure that reservation benefits reach the genuinely disadvantaged sections.
Referring to the recent Constitution Bench verdict in State of Punjab vs. Davinder Singh, the petition said the apex court has already recognised that Scheduled Castes are not a homogeneous class and that sub-classification within them is constitutionally permissible.
In a landmark judgment delivered on August 1, 2024, a seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud had suggested the application of the "cream layer" principle to SCs/STs for availing quota benefits, with the caveat that while providing for sub-classification, the government could not reserve 100 per cent of seats for a particular sub-class to the exclusion of others.