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| Apex Court ruling on creamy layer | | |
As was expected the Supreme Court's ruling that the "creamy layer"
among the scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) be
excluded from quota benefits has raised a storm in the political
circles. All most all the political parties, motivated by the vote
bank politics, have reacted sharply to the Supreme Court ruling.
Describing the same as a judicial assault the CPI and CPIM have termed
the court verdict a very retrograde move and sought the intervention
of Parliament to "reverse this distressing trend". Not limiting their
reaction to harsh criticism of the court, some parties including JD(U)
have demanded that all acts and issues relating to empowerment of the
underprivileged be put in the Ninth Scheduled of the Constitution to
avoid Judicial interference. The Congress too has sharply reacted by
stating that the judiciary and the executive should not encroach upon
each other's jurisdiction. Stressing the supremacy of Parliament in
Governance, making laws and policies the CPI has remarked "how long
reservation is to last is to be decided by the policy makers and not
adjudicated upon in advance by the apex court". The demand has also
been raised to convene a session of Parliament to discuss the
situation arising out of the apex court judgment and take remedial
legal and constitutional steps. That the political class in the
country will sharply oppose the ruling was already predicted there
rhetoric of social justice and insistence to change the constitution
to by pass the apex court ruling was almost a foregone conclusion.
That all parties are unanimous in opposing the ruling in no way makes
the same unjust, because when it comes to vote banks politicians are
wont to display herd mentality. Parliament majorities do not always do
the right things as we know from the experience of the now impugned
39th and 42nd amendments that sought to alter the entire structure of
the constitution in favour of the Union government. This was at the
expense of the judiciary, states and even the people. By and large our
courts have accepted that social justice laws are beyond challenge on
the fundamental rights issue. The position taken by the constitutional
bench of the apex court in fact is quite sensible. Besides keeping out
the creamy layer from he scope of reservations, it has upheld
reservations in promotion, calling for vacancy in reserved category to
be filled on time. By placing the ceiling on maximum of 50%
reservation, the court has done a remarkable job indeed. While
empowerment of the deprived classes is justified, the merit cannot be
totally sacrificed on this count. The best course will be to give the
underprivileged section of the society the best of the education to
make them capable to compete with the advance sections of the society.
The children and wards of the ministers, governors and holders of
other high public posts as well as the I A S, I P S and other high
class services among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, who
have economically and even socially surpassed the so called upper
caste, have no justification to claim benefits of reservations.
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