Income ceiling of Rs 4.5 lakh for creamy layer recommended
1 Jul 2008, PTI
NEW DELHI: National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) on Tuesday recommended an income ceiling of Rs 4.5 lakh for creamy layer for reservation benefits in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
The NCBC submitted a report in this regard to the government.
¶The report would soon be taken to the cabinet so that the government can take a decision in this matter as soon as possible,¶ said the Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Meira Kumar.
The report reviewed the income criteria for exclusion of ¶socially advanced persons or sections¶ among OBC from 27 per cent reservation benefits in posts and services under Government of India.
Before recommending the new ceiling, NCBC has also considered the recommendations of the sixth central pay commission besides all India consumer price index, price rise, inflation rate, monthly per capita expenditure of the OBCs, economic conditions of the OBCs and per capita national product.
The Commission took into account views expressed by the representatives of the various state backward class commissions and secretaries in charge of the related departments of the states and union territories.
The minister said the decision to revise the ceiling is taken normally after taking into account the consumer price indices. ¶It has to be revised from time to time as per regulation,¶ said the minister adding that ceiling which was fixed sometimes obviously needs a new look.
The minister said that the first ceiling for OBC reservation was fixed at Rs 1 lakh annually in 1993, which was increased to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004.
Replying to a question on whether the government will involve all parties in taking a decision over the matter, the minister quipped, ¶The cabinet has all parties.¶
¶The report has been submitted. Now we will see it,¶ is how she responded on the possibility of further revision of the recommendation made by the NCBC for the revised ceiling.
The minister said that NCBC was asked to review the income criteria on reservation ceiling in January 2008 and submit a report. ¶They today submitted it. We will now examine and process it,¶ she added.
The revision came following demands from various quarters to increase ceiling limit.
Most of the states had in a conference here earlier demanded the new ceiling be fixed between Rs 4 to Rs 6 lakh. Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh had, however, demanded higher ceilings of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively.
Sources however say that the revised ceiling recommendation is likely to have some provisions that may stretch the ambit of reservation to include more OBC population both in rural and urban areas, who have non-earning real estate and huge tracts of non productive land.
Some existing beneficiaries hailing from socially uplifted sections might be excluded after the new ceiling revision, the sources hinted.
