Supreme Court declines Centre's plea for delay in OBC creamy layer rules application

UPDATE - follow-up to SC clarifies its March 2026 verdict on OBC creamy layer policy will not apply retrospectively: The Supreme Court refused to grant the Centre a two-year period to set up post equivalence and formulate a uniform creamy layer policy.

Service Allocation

A Bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan rejected the government request on Friday. The court stated that because service allocation for the Civil Service Examination 2025 is still pending, implementation of the March 11 judgment cannot be deferred. The creamy layer principle will govern the 2025 batch service allocation. The court also clarified that past appointments concluded before the verdict will not be reopened.

Government Plea and Arguments

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati had asked for a modification of the March 11 judgment. She argued that a retrospective impact would affect recruitment, cadre allocation, seniority, admissions, and millions of people. Advocate Shashank Ratnoo said the court intervention ended a decade-long injustice. Senior advocate P. Wilson accused the Centre of trying to delay a final judgment and failing to follow court directions and the 1993 rules. The court extended the timeline to decide pending individual claims by eight weeks.

Context

The 1993 Office Memorandum excludes parental salary and agricultural income when testing for the OBC creamy layer status. The Supreme Court previously ruled that counting salaries of Public Sector Undertaking and bank employees while ignoring equivalent government employees created hostile discrimination.