The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court it was against the idea of excluding the “creamy layer” of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from the benefits of reservation, The Hindu reported.

The “creamy layer” refers to the relatively wealthy and better educated members of Other Backward Classes, who are not eligible for reservations, and SC/ST communities. A 2006 ruling had restricted the exclusion of the creamy layer only to the Other Backward Classes. In November, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear a petition that has demanded the same exclusion for the “creamy layer” of SC/ST communities, as well.

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“The uplifted/affluent and advanced sections of the SCs/STs snatch away the maximum benefit, and 95% members of these communities are at a disadvantage,” the plea said. “The affluent among the SCs/STs are siphoning off the reservation benefits given to them. The benefits of the reservation policy are not percolating down to the people who are in actual need of them...The weak always remains the weak, and the fortunate layers consume the whole cake.”

At the hearing on Wednesday, Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha, who represented the Centre, said the government would not deprive SC/ST communities from the benefits of quotas. The Supreme Court then gave the Centre four weeks to file an affidavit on the petition, Live Law reported.

“You take a stand on it and file an affidavit,” a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice AM Khanwilkar told the additional solicitor general.

The Samta Andolan Samiti – the umbrella body of general and OBC government employees and nine individuals from SC/ST communities – has filed the petition. Advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Shobhit Tiwari, who appeared for the petitioners, called the Centre’s stand on the matter backward and said their clients represented “the suppressed amongst the SC/ST communities”.