Creamy layer Report: NCBC Member says whole process was ''farce''

New Delhi, Jul 1 (UNI) As the National Commission for Backward Classes presented its report to the Centre on the 'Creamy layer', one Member of the Commission came out openly against the recommendation made after a national consultation, saying ''the whole process was a farce''.

''In fact the restriction of the creamy layer should go as it has no constitutional basis,'' he said.

The Member and former MP from Bihar, Ram Avdhesh Singh, told UNI that almost all the chairpersons of the state Backward Classes Commission who had been called here recently for consultation on the issue had expressed themselves strongly in favour of a cut-off limit of Rs 10 lakh but the Report presented today recommended only about half of it.

''In fact, the whole process of consultation was a farce. The Centre had already made up its mind on the income limit, and the consultation was absolutely unnecessary,'' he said.

The Commission spent Rs three lakh on organising the meeting which was a waste if the views of the state commissions were not to be taken into account, the Member argued.

He said he had given a dissenting opinion at the meeting but in the videography, the ''uncomfortable'' portions of his speech and of other Members were deleted.

Mr Singh said there was no mention of the economic criteria in the Article 15-4 and 16-4 of the Constitution, so the restriction regarding the creamy layer was not justified.

''Our Constitution talks only of social and educational backwardness,'' he added.

The Member said the Rs 4.6 lakh limit would exclude many eligible OBC families from the benefit of reservation, which would negate the very purpose of providing reservations.

He, however, welcomed the Centre's decision to clear the OBC backlog in government services.

UNI NAZ PK CS2033