Why activists decry court suggestion to deny reservations to a ‘creamy layer’ among SC/STs

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, creating sub-quotas to ensure that more disadvantaged sections within those groups get greater access to seats in educational institutes and government jobs.

Of the six judges who were in favour of this verdict, four went on to suggest that the principle of the “creamy layer” be extended to reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes – even though that question did not come up before the court.

Activists from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities reacted sharply to the suggestion. They told Scroll that it was unnecessary for the court to have waded into the matter.

The “creamy layer” principle is currently applied in the case of reservations for Other Backward Classes and excludes from affirmative action programmes individuals whose families have accumulated social and economic privileges over the years. In their verdict on Thursday, judges said that a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes community should not get the benefits of reservation if she belonged to the “creamy layer”.

Since the court did not hear arguments related to creamy layer within Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, the judges’ observations are not legally enforceable.

Prabhakar Nisargandh, an associate professor of sociology at...

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