Govt defends ₹8 lakh income limit for EWS quota in SC

Govt defends ₹8 lakh income limit for EWS quota in SC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:27.10.2021

Facing questions from the Supreme Court on the rationale for fixing income limit of ₹8 lakh for EWS (economically weaker sections) quota, which is similar to that of OBCs, the Centre said the determination cannot be a mathematical formula, and the matter be left to the government.

Stating that the income criteria was on the basis of the Maj Gen Sinho commission report which had in 2010 suggested that creamy layer benchmark for OBCs be adopted for EWS, the Centre said setting different income limits for regions on the basis of cost of living and per capita income was simply not feasible.

₹8 lakh criteria for EWS rational: Affidavit

Allaying the apprehension that ₹8 lakh limit is too high for people from general category — which does not suffer from social and educational backwardness that are grounds for OBC reservation — and would result in over-inclusiveness, the Centre said there are other checks to ensure only needy people avail of the EWS benefits in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions.

Responding to court’s query on why the same income limit be applied across the country despite a rural-urban divide and different per capita income in different states, the government indicated that a certain subjectivity might be inevitable and said, “The determination has to be made on broad probabilities and it is impossible to achieve perfection/mathematical precision”.

“It is submitted that the principle of fixation of ₹8 lakh as a criteria for determination of EWS as also for determination of creamy lawyer in the OBC category is rational and in keeping with Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution. The exercise conducted to determine the creamy layer for the purpose of OBC reservation would be equally applicable for determination of EWS category since the fundamental premise is that if a person/his family have a substantial economic standing, he/she may not require the benefits of reservation at the cost of others....In any event, the office memorandum provides further exclusionary criteria,” the affidavit said.

“To provide further check as to ensure that that only the needy get the benefit of the reservation , the office memorandum provides further exclusions which are not applicable for determination of creamy lawyer for OBCs,” the affidavit said and mentioned that a person would not be entitled to EWS quota if along with her family she owns 5 acres of agriculture land or a residential flat of 1,000 sq ft or a residential plot of 100 sq yard or 200 sq yard in notified municipalities.

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