The Hindu : Front Page : Creamy layer report submitted

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Wednesday, Jul 01, 2009
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Creamy layer report submitted

Special Correspondent

Panel for amendment to service rules to protect OBC quota

Pegs creamy layer income base at Rs.4.5 lakh
Government to take decisions after studying report

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The R. Rajendra Babu Commission, appointed by the State government to suggest norms for identifying the creamy layer among Other Backward Communities (OBCs) and ensuring that they received the benefits, has asked the government to amend the State service rules to prevent merit quota vacancies going to OBCs from getting adjusted against the reservation quota assigned to them.

Briefing presspersons after handing over the final report of the commission to Minister for Welfare of Backward and Scheduled Communities and Electricity A.K. Balan here on Tuesday, Mr. Rajendra Babu said the commission had recommended to the government to amend the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules, 1958 to ensure that 50 per cent of all reported vacancies were treated as merit quota vacancies and any vacancy that went to an OBC candidate from the merit quota was not adjusted against the reservation quota available to the OBCs. The latter had been complaining that they were losing a number of posts as a result of merit quota vacancies getting adjusted against their reservation quota.

The commission recommended to the government to fix the income base for determining the creamy layer in OBCs at Rs.4.5 lakh as decided by the Centre earlier and not to club income from salaries and agricultural land. The commission had, in its interim report submitted late last year, raised the income base from the earlier Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs.4.5 lakh and the present recommendation was a confirmation of that. The increase in base level income that would determine whether a family belonged to the creamy layer or not, he said, has been recommended taking into account the economic growth, change in money value, cost of living index, increase in per capita, national and State incomes and the consumer price index.

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