SC says economic status is not the sole criterion for identifying 'creamy layer'

New Delhi: The Supreme Court said that economic criterion cannot be the only basis for identifying the "creamy layer" among backward classes and scrapped a notification by the Haryana government.

As per the notification issued by the Haryana government in 2016, members of backward classes who earn above ₹ 6 lakh per annum, shall be considered the "creamy layer" under Section 5 of the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act.

An organisation named "Pichra Warg Kalyan Mahasabha Haryana" had challenged the notification. The petitioner argued that according to the law, social, economic, and other factors are to be taken into account to identify and exclude the "creamy layer".

The top court observed that Haryana has sought to determine 'creamy layer' from backward classes solely on the basis of economic criterion and has committed a grave error in doing so. The bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose asked the Haryana government to issue fresh notification within three months, reported NDTV.

The court said that people with sufficient income who were in a position to provide employment to others should also be taken to have reached a higher social status. They should be treated as outside the backward class. It added that people from backward classes who had higher agricultural holdings or were receiving income from properties, beyond a prescribed limit, do not deserve the benefit of reservation.

The state government is instructed to craft the new notification on the basis of criteria mentioned in the past judgments. The court clarified that the admissions to educational institutions and appointments to state services can still follow the notifications dated August 17, 2016, and August 28, 2018.