SC notice to Centre on hiking income limit for creamy layer

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a reply from the Centre on a batch of petitions challenging the move to raise the annual income ceiling for the creamy layer among the OBC candidates, seeking admission to central educational institutions, from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh. A bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam while issuing notice to the Centre, posted the matter for further hearing to the third week of January 2009. The petition filed by Nair Education Society and others have challenged the impugned notification issued on13th October , 2008 as "arbitrary", "unreasonable" and "unrealistic" and brought in to thwart admissions of the general category candidates, who were entitled to fill up the vacant OBC seats in central educational institutions. According to the petitions, the impugned notification was issued by the government with retrospective effect from 13th October, 2008, even though the apex court had on 14th October, ruled that all unfilled OBC seats should be filled up with general category candidates. Instead of complying with the apex court's direction, the Government chose to enhance the ceiling with retrospective effect to benefit OBC candidates from the creamy layer at the cost of the meritorious general candidates, the petition said. During the brief arguments, the bench questioned senior counsel K K Venugopal on the opposition to raising the ceiling limit. "Do you mean to say that those above the poverty line (APL) should be classified as creamy layer and excluded? Today even among Class III employees there are PAN card holders," the bench remarked. However, Venugopal argued that no scientific data or material was collected by the Government to enhance the ceiling limit. It was the argument of the petitioners that the Government had no material much less the data from the Central Backward Commission to determine the ceiling limit. During the earlier hearing on October 14 Venugopal had argued that "the cabinet decided to mop up all the vacancies under the OBC quota for high class OBC so that all seats go to them. This will defeat the motive of the quota judgement." He had told a Constitution bench of Chief Jusitce K G Balakrishnan and Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari that the cabinet's decision on the notification was arbitrary as the apex court last year had set aside the report of the Narenderan Commission recommending raising upto Rs 3 lakh as the upperlimit of annual income for the creamy layer. "When the Supreme Court has held as unjustified the raising the income ceiling to Rs 3 lakh for creamy layer how can it be Rs 4 lakh within a year," Venugopal had argued referring to the 23rd February, 2007 verdict of the apex court. The court had set aside the report of Justice K K Narendran Commission appointed by the Kerala Government. The Narendran Commission was appointed by the state government after the Supreme court had accepted the report of another Commission of Justice K J Joseph that had recommended Rs 2.5 lakh annual income as upper limit for the creamy layer.

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