A government order of 1993 mandating that OBC families engaged in traditional artisans’ occupations would be exempt from “creamy layer” exclusion irrespective of how much they earned remains unimplemented three decades on.

The reason, OBC activists said, is that the Centre has yet not got round to officially enumerating the traditional artisans’ occupations (such as those of blacksmiths, weavers and potters) for the purpose.

The issue has been agitating the OBCs afresh at a time senior politicians from the community have been leaving the BJP in droves in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, accusing the party of neglecting the backward classes and Dalits.

A department of personnel and training order of September 1993 had laid down the criteria for identifying the creamy layer among OBCs who would not receive reservation benefits.

It mentioned the holders of certain constitutional and government posts and those earning above a ceiling (now Rs 8 lakh a year) — with salaries and agricultural income excluded from the calculations.

It added that those in traditional artisans’ occupations would not be considered part of the creamy layer. The welfare ministry — now the ministry of social justice and empowerment — was to come out with a list of such occupations.

But no government has taken any step towards preparing the list till today, said P.C. Patanjali, chairman of the civil society group Most Backward Classes Forum. This means that members of OBC artisan communities keep getting excluded from reservation benefits if their family income is above the creamy layer cut-off.

Patanjali said blacksmiths, goldsmiths, carpenters, weavers, potters and other craftsmen make up the majority among the OBCs and “are the most backward”.

The issue was highlighted recently when the Supreme Court asked the Centre to explain why it used the same income ceiling — Rs 8 lakh — to decide eligibility for reservation among the OBCs and the economically weaker sections among the upper castes, who are unequal in other aspects.

In reply, the government submitted to the court the report of an expert committee that said that unlike with OBCs, income from salaries and agriculture was considered while calculating the annual family income of EWS candidates --- so the ceiling was not really the same for the two groups.

However, this report — placed in the form of a government affidavit — also cited the 1993 order to assert that artisans were shielded from creamy layer exclusion. This has angered OBC activists, who say the affidavit makes it appear as though this principle was being implemented on the ground.

“This is not factually correct. The government should have asked the committee to correct this part before accepting the report,” Patanjali said.

Hansaraj Jangra, president of the civil society group All India Backward Classes Federation, said the organisation had written several times to the government and the National Commission for Backward Classes, a body meant to protect OBC interests, asking that a list of the traditional artisans’ occupations be prepared.

“No government has bothered to prepare the list,” Jangra said.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra, an OBC, said he would raise the matter in Parliament.

“The list should have been prepared long ago. I shall raise the matter in Parliament,” he said.

Hansaraj Jangra said the OBCs were disappointed at the government’s failure to release caste census data (from the 2011-12 Socio-Economic Caste Census), which would have helped sub-categorise the OBCs for a more equitable distribution of reservation benefits.

The OBCs are also unhappy at a government move to include salaries in creamy layer calculations. A government-appointed panel has made the recommendation --- while suggesting raising the income ceiling to Rs 12 lakh -- which the cabinet has returned to the social justice ministry for further consultations with stakeholders.

An email sent to the ministry seeking the reasons for the delay in listing the traditional artisans’ occupations and the factual error in the court affidavit had remained unanswered till Friday evening.