Stating that the idea of denying reservations to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes based on the creamy layer principle is condemnable, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday said that the Centre should have introduced a draft legislation in Parliament “to nullify” the part of the Supreme Court’s recent judgement that made the suggestion.
The Congress chief said that the other aspects of the court’s August 1 judgement were being deliberated upon within the party. The party had not formally commented on the judgement so far.
The developments showed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s intent of gradually ending reservations, the Congress president claimed.
On August 1, a seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ruled that the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is permissible for providing reservations in government jobs and education based on empirical data.
The court, in a 6:1 majority verdict, overruled the court’s 2004 judgement, which held that Scheduled Castes formed a homogenous group and hence could not be subdivided into categories.
Further, four of the seven judges had called for identifying the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories so that they could be removed from the reservation matrix.
The creamy layer seeks to exclude the wealthier and more advanced members within a group from the benefits of affirmative action.
The judges had said that the state should formulate a policy to identify the creamy layer among the two groups as this was the “only way to gain true equality”.
The application of the creamy layer, however, was not one of the questions before the bench, and the suggestions of the four judges lack legal enforceability.
Also read: Explained: Supreme Court Constitution bench verdict on sub-classification in SC/ST reservations
On Saturday, Kharge told reporters that the government has privatised public sector jobs and there are lakhs of [job] vacancies that are not being filled. Members of the Scheduled Castes were unable to get jobs, he added. “No member of the Schedule Castes is at the high-level positions,” Kharge said.
“Who do you want to benefit by bringing a creamy layer?” Kharge questioned on Saturday. “By bringing a creamy layer [in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories], on one hand you are suppressing the untouchables, and on the other hand, you are giving it [benefits] to those who have enjoyed privileges for thousands of years. I condemn this.”
The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said that the reservations “should be there and will be there” till the time untouchability exists. “We will fight for it,” he added.
“Those who are facing untouchability in real life and those people belonging to SC and ST [communities] even on high posts are facing discrimination,” he said. “They face discrimination even if they have money.”
Kharge appealed to all groups to unite to ensure that the court’s suggestion on creamy layer in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories does not get recognition.
“I read that the prime minister has said that they will not touch this [court suggestion],” Kharge said. “To ensure that creamy layer [suggestion] is not be implemented, they should have brought [a bill] in Parliament and nullified the Supreme Court judgement.”
Kharge said that the BJP-led government prepares draft legislations in two to three hours but it had been about 15 days since the court’s judgement.
On Friday, the Union government said that there is no provision in the Constitution for a creamy layer in the reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Quotas for the two groups will be implemented as per the Constitution drafted by BR Ambedkar, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a Cabinet briefing.
Vaishnaw’s remarks implied that the government will not act on the Supreme Court’s suggestion that the creamy layer principle be extended to reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
“The Supreme Court has given certain suggestions on the reservation for SCs and STs,” Vaishnaw said on Friday. “Today, the Cabinet carried out an elaborate discussion on this issue. The well-thought-through decision of the Cabinet is that the National Democratic Alliance government is committed to the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar.”
Earlier on Friday, a group of Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed concerns about the court’s observations.
One of them, Bulandshahr MP Bhola Singh, said that Modi assured them that the government “would not take any steps and reiterated that it stands for the welfare of SC and ST communities”, The Indian Express reported.
Also read:
- Sharp divide opens up on Supreme Court’s verdict on sub-classification of SCs and STs
- Why activists decry court suggestion to deny reservations to a ‘creamy layer’ among SC/STs
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