A leading body representing the other backward classes (OBCs) on Wednesday urged the Centre to revise the annual gross family income criteria for identification of OBCs for reservation and hoped that the government would do away with its proposal to include salary under income.

The All India Federation of OBCs Employees Welfare Association (AIFOBCWA) has written to Union social justice minister Virendra Kumar, seeking a revision in the annual family income ceiling of Rs 8 lakh, a limit that is used to demarcate the creamy layer among the OBCs for exclusion from reservation benefits.

The ceiling was last revised from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh in September 2017. The letter also referred to the government proposal for inclusion of salary under income.
Based on the recommendations of a committee headed by retired bureaucrat B.P. Sharma, the Union social justice ministry had sent the proposal to the cabinet in 2020.

In 2019, the committee had suggested that the annual family income limit of Rs 8 lakh should be increased to Rs 12 lakh and salary should be included in it. Salary and income from agriculture are now not considered while deciding the creamy layer among OBCs.

Recently, the Supreme Court while hearing a petition against the implementation of reservation for OBCs and the economically weaker sections (EWS) in all-India pool seats in medical colleges asked the Centre to explain the rationale behind the same income criterion of Rs 8 lakh for identification of creamy layer among OBCs and eligibility for the EWS quota.

A committee set up in November by the social justice ministry and headed by retired bureaucrat Ajay Bhushan Pandey pointed out that while income from salary and agriculture is not part of the OBC creamy layer criteria, it is considered while selecting EWS beneficiaries.

The government has accepted the recommendations. “By this, we are confident that Union government and the social justice ministry have rejected the B.P. Sharma committee recommendations to include salary and agricultural income,” said the letter.

It also demanded the revision of the creamy layer limit to Rs 15 lakh. “We feel the government has rejected the B.P. Sharma committee report. It should clearly clarify this to put any doubt to rest,” said G. Karunanidhy, general secretary of the federation.

However, a social justice ministry official said it was free to change the existing policy on the creamy layer.

“Even as the Pandey committee report stated that salary is not included under income criteria for OBCs, the government is free to bring any change to the existing policy,” the official said.

The official said the government was still keen on bringing salary under income. “The salaried OBC is like an elite compared to the poor OBC. Is it not an injustice to them if the salaried people continue to take the benefit of reservation?” the official said.