Quota: What does 'creamy layer' mean?

The term "creamy layer" was first used during the 1992 Supreme Court judgement on the Mandal Commission recommendations asking for 27% reservations for other backward classes (OBCs) in central government jobs. While the Supreme Court meant that the more privileged among the backward classes do not dominate the reserved categories, the bare bones of the criteria for judging the creamy layer was left with the state governments.

Many state governments did come up with some criterion while others like Kerala have not. Some principles have been laid down by the Supreme court in the 1992 judgement on the creamy layer. These include chidren of constitutional functionaries including the President, Vice-President and Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts. Children of the members of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) are also excluded as are Group A and B or Class I and II officers of all-India and state services. Children of certain public sector employees are also excluded. Certain property-related ceilings, on irrigated and unirrigated land holders, and plantation owners have also been imposed, and in certain cases children whose parents have an annual income of over Rs 2.5 lakh are also excluded. Children of doctors, dentists, engineers, chartered accountants, IT consultants, media professionals, authors, and sports professionals are also included in the creamy layer.

State governments have been given the leeway to determine who they deem to be an OBC, and grounds for exemptions have also been made clear in each case.

OBC Quota: SC upholds 27% reservation

The Supreme Court today cleared the decks for implementation of 27% quota for "socially and educationally backward classes" in centrally run institutions of higher education like IIMs, IITs and AIIMS. It said that the creamy layer should be excluded in the admissions. Unaided private institutions and those run by minorities are not included in the purview of this law.

The five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, thus upheld the validity of the 93rd Amendment to the Constitution passed in 2005, which enables the central government to introduce reservation in educational institutions. After amending the Constitution, the government passed the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act in 2006.

The 27% reservation under this law was met with stiff resistance from a section of students who feared that meritorious candidates would lose their chance to enter the prestigious institutions if the quota system for the OBCs is implemented.

Amid student protests, the court passed an interim order in March last year staying the implementation of the quota in central educational institutions. The court heard the arguments and reserved its judgment in November last year. With this judgment, the stay has been lifted and the reservations will come into force from the next academic session.

The court has asked the government to review the 27% quota after five years.

Four out of five judges left open the issue of quota in private unaided institutions, but one judge, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, held that it would be violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The court said that the parametres laid down for identifying the creamy layer among the OBCs for jobs under the office memorandum of September 8, 1993, will be applicable for identifying the socially and educationally backward classes.

Four out of five judges who wrote separate judgments are the Chief Justice, Justice Arijit Pasayat, Justice R V Raveendran and Justice Dalveer Bhandari. Justice C K Thakker and Justice Pasayat wrote a common judgment.

The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006


Institutions covered by the Act


Existing six Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) plus seven more coming up


Existing seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) plus eight more coming up


Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore


Existing 20 National Institutes of Technology plus 10 more coming up


Existing four National Institute of Technical Teachers Training Research


National Institute of Foundry & Forge Technology, Ranchi


Indian Institute of Information Technology Design & Manufacturing, Jabalpur


School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi


Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad


Existing 24 central universities, plus 16 more coming up, plus 14 world-class universities


Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi


Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar


Central Dairy Research Institute


11 medical institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS Bangalore


Central Institute of Fisheries Nautical & Engineering Training, Kochi


Both the Indian Institutes of Mass Communication


Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology


Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram


Institutions not covered by the Act


All central government supported minority institutions


Central educational institutions established in tribal areas


Homi Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay


Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam


Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore


Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar


Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata


Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata


Institute of Physics, Bhubaneshwar


Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai


Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad


Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai


Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai


North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, Shillong


National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Gurgaon


Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research,Bangalore


Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad


Space Physics Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram


Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun


Courses/programmes at high-levels of specialisation