OBC ‘creamy layer’ limit proposed to be raised to ₹15 lakh per annum

State revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on OBCs, announced this in a meeting on Tuesday

MUMBAI: The state government is likely to recommend a raise in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) creamy layer from the current ₹eight lakh per annum to ₹15 lakh per annum. In effect, this means that an OBC person earning up to ₹1.25 lakh per month will be considered underprivileged and entitled to reservations in education and jobs.

State revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule (ANI)

State revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on OBCs, announced this in a meeting on Tuesday. The sub-committee made the recommendation on the basis of the long-standing demand by OBCs to revise the income limit for reservation eligibility (the ‘creamy layer’, by a Supreme Court ruling, cannot avail of reservations). Bawankule said he would soon meet chief minister Devendra Fadnavis regarding the future course of his panel’s recommendation.

The sub-committee also announced that a proposal had been submitted to the National Commission for Backward Classes for the inclusion of 43 new castes which are currently not part of the Central OBC list. The meeting was attended by ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Ganesh Naik, Gulabrao Patil, Sanjay Rathod and Atul Save, along with senior officials from various departments.

The issue came up on Tuesday when the file to confirm the minutes of the last cabinet meeting came before Sanjay Rathod, who belongs to the OBC Banjara community. “I came to know about several Supreme Court orders that are not in favour of such a decision,” Rathod told the media. “Therefore, I decided to raise the issue in the cabinet meeting. I requested the CM and deputy CM to reconsider the policy. After listening to my points, the CM said that the government would seek the opinion of the advocate-general on the matter.”