HC seeks reply from govt on creamy layer in SC/ST reservation

Rajasthan High Court today issued notices to the Centre and state governments seeking reply on why the provision of creamy layer was not made applicable in SC/ST reservation.
The court issued the notices while hearing a petition filed by a person who had applied for the post of Physical Training Instructors for the state government in 2011, under the SC/ST reserved category but had not bagged it.
In his petition, Anil Barupal questioned the rationale of the current system of SC/ST reservation while objecting to the absence of priority for economically weaker candidates like in OBC reservation, where the benefit of reservation has been classified through the provision of the creamy layer.

Counsel of the petitioner S P Sharma argued that there was a provision of creamy layer in the OBC reservation which distinguished between beneficiaries on the basis of their economic condition.
"But in SC/ST reservation, every candidate is entitled to avail the benefits of reservation regardless of his or her economic condition," he argued.
Sharma said due to the absence of this provision in SC/ST reservation, the right of the deserving person (economically weaker) was shadowed by those economically capable, which was in contravention of the constitutional mandate.

Hearing the arguments, Justice G K Vyas issued notices to the union and state governments through Additional Advocate General and Advocate Generals respectively, seeking reply on why the creamy layer was not made applicable in the SC/ST reservation in the manner it has been provided for in OBC reservation.

The petitioner, who had responded to an advertisement of vacancies for the post of Physical Training Instructors, had missed the opportunity by a few marks.
He had contended that the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes category in this recruitment were not in accordance with the norms.
"As per the norms, 16 seats should have been reserved for the SC/ST category but the advertisement mentioned only eight seats," Sharma said.