Supreme Court Reserves Verdict on Centre's Plea for Two-Year Delay to Fix OBC Creamy Layer Rules

The Supreme Court on Thursday kept its decision pending on a Union government request for a prospective application of the March 11 ruling regarding OBC non-creamy layer criteria. A two-judge panel consisting of Justices P.S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan listened to arguments from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati on behalf of the Centre.

Government Arguments

The central administration requested a two-year period to set up equivalent post rules after consulting groups and building a uniform policy framework. Officials stated that applying the verdict backward would disrupt hiring, job postings, service ranks, promotions, school admissions, and overall quota management for Other Backward Castes. Ms. Bhati explained that applying the ruling immediately could alter service placements dating back to 2012 and disturb seniority lists in large public sectors like railways, banks, postal departments, and paramilitary forces. Invoking Article 142 of the Constitution, the administration warned that past and ongoing hiring cycles would face administrative disorder if the ruling is not restricted to future cases only.

Opposition and Background

Senior advocate P. Wilson opposed the plea, arguing that the government wants to delay or cancel a final ruling and blamed the Department of Personnel and Training for ignoring past directions and 1993 rules. The March verdict had noted that counting salaries of parents working in public sector firms and banks while ignoring equivalent government staff salaries created unfair discrimination. The top court had earlier instructed the department to set up supernumerary posts within half a year to adjust eligible candidates who lost out due to wrong creamy layer rules, noting that exclusion should focus on social standing rather than total household earnings alone.