After 26 years, expert panel to review OBC ‘creamy layer’ criteria
Subodh.Ghildiyal@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:18.03.2019
In a move that has raised anxiety levels among interested groups, the Centre has constituted an expert committee to “revisit the criteria” for determining the “creamy layer” for OBCs which was laid down in 1993. It has argued that the review was required to “simplify and streamline” the norms in view of “issues” arising from their implementation.
“Creamy layer” is the section of OBCs that is economically advanced and ineligible for Mandal reservations in jobs and education. Following the Supreme Court’s judgment on Mandal Commission, the exclusion norms for “creamy layer” were laid down by the DoPT’s office memorandum of 1993 based on the report of the Prasad committee.
Now, after 26 years, ministry of social justice, on March 8, set up a panel headed by retired GOI secretary B P Sharma, with “terms of reference” which sound radical in their breadth and scope.
The committee will “revisit the criteria evolved by the Prasad committee” and give recommendations for “redefining, simplifying and streamlining the concept of creamy layer” while keeping in view the SC’s observations in Indira Sawhney case.
The backdrop for the review is the controversy arising from the DoPT’s application of different “wealth test” yardsticks — inclusion of “salaries” in family income — for OBCs with parents employed in central and state governments, and those with parents in PSUs.
At the core of the problem is that posts in PSUs have not been identified as Group A/B/C/D like in government, creating confusion.
The Centre has argued that the review was required to “simplify and streamline” the norms in view of “issues” arising from their implementation
Subodh.Ghildiyal@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:18.03.2019
In a move that has raised anxiety levels among interested groups, the Centre has constituted an expert committee to “revisit the criteria” for determining the “creamy layer” for OBCs which was laid down in 1993. It has argued that the review was required to “simplify and streamline” the norms in view of “issues” arising from their implementation.
“Creamy layer” is the section of OBCs that is economically advanced and ineligible for Mandal reservations in jobs and education. Following the Supreme Court’s judgment on Mandal Commission, the exclusion norms for “creamy layer” were laid down by the DoPT’s office memorandum of 1993 based on the report of the Prasad committee.
Now, after 26 years, ministry of social justice, on March 8, set up a panel headed by retired GOI secretary B P Sharma, with “terms of reference” which sound radical in their breadth and scope.
The committee will “revisit the criteria evolved by the Prasad committee” and give recommendations for “redefining, simplifying and streamlining the concept of creamy layer” while keeping in view the SC’s observations in Indira Sawhney case.
The backdrop for the review is the controversy arising from the DoPT’s application of different “wealth test” yardsticks — inclusion of “salaries” in family income — for OBCs with parents employed in central and state governments, and those with parents in PSUs.
At the core of the problem is that posts in PSUs have not been identified as Group A/B/C/D like in government, creating confusion.
The Centre has argued that the review was required to “simplify and streamline” the norms in view of “issues” arising from their implementation
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