Ambit of OBC 'creamy layer' extended to PSUs, financial institutions

Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to extend the concept of creamy layer in OBC reservations to PSUs and financial institutions.

Pic courtesy: IANS

New Delhi: Twentyfour years after its introduction in the government, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to extend the concept of creamy layer in OBC reservations to Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and financial institutions.

The Cabinet, which had last week raised the annual income ceiling of Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh for eligibility for reservations for Other Backward Classes, decided on extending the concept at its meeting on Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the media. 

He said even though the government had decided the criteria for deciding the creamy layer on the basis of income and status in 1993, the concept of creamy layer itself was not implemented in PSUs and financial institutions like banks and insurance companies.

"Now, on the advice of the Group of Ministers, the cabinet has given its approval" to implement it, Jaitley said.

"Now the same limit of Rs 8 lakhs, which is applicable on central government, will also be applicable on PSUs and financial institutions," he said.

"With regards to status, candidates whose parents hold constitutional posts or group A and B posts are excluded," Jaitley said.

The minister said that with these decisions, the benefits will spread more widely in the OBC community.

"This will ensure that the children of those serving in lower categories in PSUs and other institutions can get the benefit of OBC reservations, on par with children of people serving in lower categories in government," an official statement said.

"This will also prevent children of those in senior positions in such institutions - who, owing to absence of equivalence of posts, may have been treated as non-creamy layer - from cornering government posts reserved for OBCs and denying the genuine non-creamy layer candidates a level playing field," it added.