Exclude SC/ST creamy layer from benefits of reservation, plea in SC says

In a first, a petition to exclude members of the creamy layer of the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes from the benefits of reservation has been filed in the Supreme Court of India.

The petition has been listed before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. The petitioner says that the rich or the creamy layer among the SC/STs are snatching away the benefits while the underprivileged continue to bite the dust.

The naxalite movement, unrest is a result of this lack of percolation of benefits to the poor and really backward, the petitioner also contended. The petitioner, advocate Shobit Tiwari makes a reference to the 2006 Constitution Bench verdict in the M Nagraj case. The court had said that the test of an individual claiming benefits of reservation must be taken into consideration to exclude the creamy layer from the group earmarked for reservation.

The petitioner argues that the uplifted/affluent and advanced sections of the SCs/STs snatch away the maximum benefit and the 95% members of these communities are at a disadvantage. The affluent among the SCs/STs are siphoning off the reservation benefits given to them by the State government as well as the Central government. The benefits of the reservation policy are not percolating down to the people who are in actual need of them.

OneIndia News