JODHPUR: The
Rajasthan High Court ordered the state government to revise the income limit for creamy layer under the
OBC reservation within a month.
The division bench of Chief Justice
Pradeep Nadrajog and Justice P S Bhati gave these directions while hearing a PIL praying to raise the limit for creamy layer in the state.
Arguing in the court,
Jitendra Parasariya, counsel for the petitioner, said that the
National Backward Commission had constituted committees, which set the limit of creamy layers at Rs 1 lakh annual income, which all the states followed.
"The Centre had kept on raising the income limit for creamy layer from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 8 lakh in 2017 which was followed by other states. However, unlike Centre and other states, Rajasthan raised income limit only once to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004. After that no increase has taken place," he argued.
Because of this negligence of the state government, Parasariya argued, lakhs of youths from 91 OBC communities are deprived of government jobs in the state.
He further argued that this revision should have been done every three years but the norm was not being adhered to.
Praying for an immediate raise in the creamy layer limit from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh, the petitioner also made a plea for setting of a data collection agency to study the present status of OBC communities so that the reservation to them could be reviewed.
In its order, the court observed that no reference has been made to the Rajasthan OBC Commission to consider enhancement of the limit of income for the purpose of creamy layer determination. Thus, we dispose of the writ petition issuing a direction to the State Government to make necessary reference to the Rajasthan Other Backward Class Commission for determining what should the limit of annual income for the purpose of treating a member of OBC as falling in creamy layer.
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