Raising OBC income for quota to be challenged

NEW DELHI: UPA government���s decision to raise the income ceiling for creamy layer from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh per annum, to accommodate more OBCs for reservation in educational institutions and jobs, will be challenged in the Supreme Court.

Senior Counsel K K Venugopal appearing for anti-quota petitioners on Tuesday submitted before a five-judge Constitution Bench that the Union Cabinet���s decision raising the creamy layer ceiling was unconstitutional.

The bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan told the petitioner,��� you file a separate petition, we will consider it.��� The bench was hearing the issue of filling up reserved vacant OBCs seats in central educational institutions by eligible general categories candidates.

The purpose of raising the ceiling was to come over the apex court judgement, said Venugopal to the bench also comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat, Justice C K Thakker, Justice R V Raveendran and Justice Dalveer Bhandari. ���The cabinet decided to mop up all vacancies under OBC quota for high class OBCs so that all seats go to them. This will defeat the motive of the judgment,��� said Venugopal.

The Constitution Bench on April 10, 2008 had unanimously asked the government to exclude the better off sections (creamy layer) of the OBCs from the purview of reservation under provision of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission ) Act 2006. It had also ordered for filling up the vacant OBCs seats by the eligible general categories of students.

Venugopal said that Cabinet���s decision was arbitrary as the apex court last year had set aside the report of a Commission recommending raising up to Rs 3 lakh the upper limit of annual income for the creamy layer.