creamy layer
In Indra Sawhney the Supreme Court upheld reservation for Other Backward Classes in public employment under Article 16(4), but required the creamy layer to be excluded, so that the benefits reach those who are actually backward. The Union government identifies it by criteria such as constitutional posts, rank in service, and family income or wealth, with the income ceiling revised from time to time.
For a long time the exclusion was understood to apply only to OBCs. In 2018 the Supreme Court held that the creamy layer principle also applies to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in reservation in promotion. Students should not confuse the creamy layer test with the 50 per cent ceiling, which is a separate limit from the same case.
Example
The son of a Group A officer is in the creamy layer and cannot claim the OBC quota, though his caste is on the backward class list.
In Indian law
- Articles 15(4) and 16(4), Constitution of India
- Indra Sawhney v. Union of India (Supreme Court, 1992): exclusion of the creamy layer from OBC reservation
- Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta, 2018 INSC 881: creamy layer applied to SC/ST reservation in promotion
See also
reservation · reasonable classification · equality before law
Read more in the study notes
- Articles 15 and 16: protective discrimination and social justice (Constitutional Law I)
- Equality, affirmative action and the impact of privatisation (Indian Constitutional Law - New Challenges)
- Caste, untouchability and protective discrimination (Law and Social Transformation in India)
- Caste and class: differences, dominant caste and changing relations (Sociology - Indian Society Continuity and Change)