A panel appointed by the central government to review the income cut-off for the Economically Weaker Sections quota after the Supreme Court questioned the existing figure favours retaining it at Rs 8 lakh, sources have said.

The three-member committee’s report has been submitted to the apex court, with its contents yet to be made public. The sources were speaking on the basis of their understanding of the committee members’ thinking, and it is not clear if such a view was included in the final recommendation.

The next hearing in the apex court is scheduled on January 6.

The sources said the committee was in favour of three recommendations:

⚫ Retain the family income cut-off of Rs 8 lakh a year.

⚫ Retain the norm that excludes families owning five acres or more of agriculture land.

⚫ Drop the norm that excludes families owning a residential flat of 1,000sqft or above, or a residential plot of 100 square yards or above in a notified municipality, or a residential plot of 200 square yards or above in an area not part of a notified municipality.

The apex court had underlined that the income cut-off for the OBC quota too was Rs 8 lakh a year and asked how people unequal in every other way could be treated as equal in this matter. The widely understood implication was that the cut-off should be lower for the EWS quota.

But the committee members’ thinking is understood to have been that the cut-off is only “seemingly equal” and not really so, since the definitions of “income” and “family” are more stringent under the EWS quota compared with the OBC quota.

The committee was made up of Ajay Bhushan Pandey (former finance secretary), V.K. Malhotra (member secretary of the Indian Council of Social Science Research) and Sanjeev Sanyal (principal economic adviser to the government).