Arjun Ram Meghwal accuses Opposition of creating confusion over SC ‘observation’ on creamy layer
Law Minister accuses Opposition of creating confusion over Supreme Court’s “observation” on creamy layer, reaffirms commitment to reservation system
Mr. Meghwal underlined that the top court had said that if the States wanted, they could do sub-classification. But it did not make any decision. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has accused the Opposition of creating confusion among people over the Supreme Court’s “observation” on a creamy layer among SCs and STs and asserted that the Constitution given by B. R. Ambedkar has no provision of a creamy layer.
In an interview with PTI Videos, he said the BJP-led NDA government would follow Ambedkar’s Constitution and would continue the reservation system for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as provided in it.
Mr. Meghwal noted that though the Opposition was aware that the top court had only made an “observation” on creamy layer, it was trying to create confusion among people.
On Saturday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said that the idea of denying reservation to SCs and STs on account of the creamy layer concept was “condemnable”. He also said the government should have brought a legislation in Parliament to nullify the part of the recent Supreme Court judgement that talked about the issue.
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Mr. Meghwal underlined that the top court had said that if the States wanted, they could do sub-classification. But it did not make any decision on creamy layer. It was an observation, he asserted.
"There is a difference between direction and observation," he reminded the Opposition.
Earlier this month, a seven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud ruled in a 6:1 majority judgment that State governments were permitted to sub-classify communities within the SC list based on empirical data.
Supreme Court judge B.R. Gavai had said States must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even among the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Schedule Tribes (ST) and deny them the benefit of reservation.
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Justice Gavai penned a separate but concurring judgement in which the top court by a majority verdict said the States were empowered to make sub-classifications of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for granting quotas within the reserved category to uplift those who belong to the more underprivileged castes.
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, held a detailed discussion on the Supreme Court judgment on the sub-categorisation of reservation for SCs and STs as granted in the Constitution.
“It is the well-thought view of the Union Cabinet that the NDA government is firmly committed to the provisions in the Constitution given by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had told reporters.
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