Reply in 6 Weeks: High Court to Government on SC/ST Creamy Layer
The state government had constituted a one-man judicial committee headed by a retired judge which had also recommended introduction of the “creamy layer” for reservations amongst the SC and ST communities, counsel submitted
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the state government directing it to file its contentions within six weeks to a writ seeking to declare the Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Act, 2025 as unconstitutional as it did not provide for a “creamy layer”.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara was dealing with a petition filed K. Manga, who requested the court to direct the state government to introduce a “creamy layer” for reservations for the SC and ST communities as per the judgment of the Supreme Court in ‘Davinder Singh v. State of Punjab (2025)’. She said the legislation enacted by the state government was contrary to the law declared by the Supreme Court.
Manga submitted that as the legislation did not provided for a "creamy layer", candidates from the SC community who had benefited from reservation would have a "double opportunity" to get the benefit of reservation, thereby depriving the first-generation candidates like her. Thus the Act was against the principle of achieving real equality.
Petitioner’s counsel Akash Kumar submitted that a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in ‘Davinder Singh v. State of Punjab’, had held that sub-categorisation amongst the SC community was permitted and directed states to introduce a “creamy layer” for reservations. The state government had constituted a one-man judicial committee headed by a retired judge which had also recommended introduction of the “creamy layer” for reservations amongst the SC and ST communities, counsel submitted.