It is the job of the government to exclude whom from the scope of reservation, what did the Supreme Court say on the creamy layer?

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the executive and the legislature will decide whether to keep out of the ambit of reservation those people who have availed the benefit of quota and are in a position to compete with others. Justice B. R. A bench of Justices Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih made the comment on a petition citing the judgment of a seven-judge Constitution bench of the apex court in August last year. Justice Gavai said that we are of the view that keeping in mind the last 75 years, persons who have already enjoyed benefits and are in a position to compete with others should be kept out of reservation. But the decision in this regard has to be taken by the executive and the legislature. The Constitution Bench had said in the majority decision that the states have the constitutional right to make sub-categorization within the Scheduled Castes (SC) so that socially and educationally more backward castes can be included in them. Reservation can be given for upliftment. Justice Gavai, who was part of the Constitution bench and wrote a separate judgment, had said that states should also formulate a policy to identify the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and deny them the benefit of reservation.

On Thursday, the lawyer appearing for the petitioner cited the Supreme Court’s decision in which a policy was asked to identify such creamy layer. Justice Gavai said that the Supreme Court is of the view that sub-classification is acceptable. The petitioner’s lawyer said that almost six months have passed since the Constitution Bench directed the states to prepare the policy.

The bench said, we are not willing to hear this. When the lawyer sought permission to withdraw the petition and file a representation before the concerned authority who can decide on the issue, the court granted permission. The lawyer said that the state will not make the policy and ultimately the apex court will have to intervene, to which the court said, he/she is an MP, isn’t he/she? MPs can make laws.