The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Creamy layer concept against the spirit of Constitution'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 01, 2006
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Creamy layer concept against the spirit of Constitution'

Special Correspondent

Reservation being misread as anti-poverty measure: expert

Bangalore: The recent Supreme Court decision to exclude "creamy layer" of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from the benefits of reservations runs contrary to the spirit of reservation enshrined in the Constitution, Ravivarma Kumar, former Chairman of the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, has said.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Federation of Dalits, Backward Classes, Minorities and Secular and Progressive Associations of Karnataka, he argued that the judgment should be reviewed since it was liable to further widen social inequalities. Judiciary was misreading reservation as an "anti-poverty measure" while it was a measure to "secure adequacy of representation", Mr. Kumar said. Making a presentation on how the question of reservation had been dealt with in various Supreme Court judgments since 1951, he said one could trace a constant tussle between Legislature and Judiciary on the matter of social justice. Talking about the Supreme Court's insistence that reservation should be backed by "quantifiable data to show backwardness and inadequacy", he asked how it could be furnished in the absence of up-to-date statistics.

The meeting was presided over by the former Law Minister A. Lakshmi Sagar. Representatives of various organisationstook part in the meeting.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section