Government asks Supreme Court for two-year window to set OBC creamy-layer rules

The Union government filed an application with the Supreme Court seeking an early hearing to obtain a two-year period for formulating creamy-layer criteria for OBC candidates, following the Court's March 11 ruling that excluded parental salaries in PSUs or private firms from the definition. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta asked Chief Justice Surya Kant to list the matter before Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan, emphasizing that the request does not aim to overturn the judgment but to address field-level challenges.

Advocate Varun Thakur opposed the move, asserting the law is settled. The Centre warned that retroactive implementation would require reclassifying senior OBC officers across services like the IAS, IPS and IFS, potentially causing administrative chaos. It also highlighted that major employers—including Railways, banks, the postal department and paramilitary forces—could face hundreds of thousands of petitions seeking reclassification.

The court agreed to schedule the hearing for September 1. The government pledged to draft a policy that balances the Supreme Court's observations with fairness for affected candidates.