15 Jun, 2008, 1125 hrs IST, PTI
NEW DELHI: In a move that could end the debate over classification of creamy layer among the OBCs, the National Commission for Backward Classes is expected to give its recommendations to the government by June 30 on the revised income ceiling for their eligibility for reservation.
Acting on a government directive, the NCBC has obtained suggestions from commissions from 20 states on the income ceiling of the creamy layer and is in the process of getting similar views from other eight states.
Most of the state commissions have recommended revision of the income limit for creamy layer classification from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.
The recommendations were made at a conference of the NCBC and state backward commissions held here recently.
The conference was attended by representatives of 20 state commissions. At least 40 per cent of the representatives of the state commissions had not come with official recommendations and have promised to get back, NCBC member Abdul Ali Azizi said.
Azizi said the views of those states, which could not attend the meeting, will be taken via correspondence while others have been directed to send their officials' recommendation to NCBC by June 25.
The NCBC will be sending its recommendation to the central government by June 30 on the basis of views that are available by that date.
The recommendations will help the government to define the income limit for the creamy layer among the OBC, setting at rest a debate on the issue.
The creamy layer among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) on the basis of annual income was defined in 1993 with the ceiling fixed at Rs one lakh. It was later revised to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004.
The creamy layer cannot claim benefits, including reservation in jobs and professional courses, that are available to the OBCs.
At the recent conference involving the NCBC and the state backward commissions, Karnataka demanded ten-time rise in the ceiling from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh, while Madhya Pradesh demanded that it be fixed at Rs 10 lakh, four times more from the existing level.
Most of the other states recommended a ceiling of Rs 4 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.
Some of the members also suggested that properties that yield no income should not be included for deciding creamy layer. This includes real state properties, which give no earning and the agriculture land, where no cultivation is taking place.
"Things could have been completed much more smoothly had the state representatives come out clear on their stands and attended the meeting in full capacity," sources in the NCBC said.
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