The Supreme Court has said that whether a candidate belonging to Other Backward Class (OBC) belongs to the creamy layer or non-creamy layer cannot be determined by his income alone. On Wednesday (March 11, 2026), the court has given this historic decision making important changes in the determination of Non-Creamy Layer (NCL) of OBC. The court said that the decision of creamy layer cannot be based only on the salary or income of the parents, but as per the original guidelines of 1993, the position of the post and other factors also have to be kept in mind.
The bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice R Mahadevan said this while confirming the decisions of Madras, Kerala and Delhi High Courts, which are related to the eligibility of candidates claiming the benefit of OBC (non-creamy layer) for civil services examinations.
The Supreme Court said that if the parents are in Group C or Group D (Class III or IV) in a government job, their salary will not be added to determine the creamy layer. Besides, income from agriculture will also be completely excluded. To qualify for the creamy layer, the total family income from ‘other sources’ (like business, property, rent etc.) should be less than Rs 8 lakh per annum on an average for three consecutive years.
In this decision, the Supreme Court has declared invalid Para 9 of the letter of the Department of Personnel and Training of 2004, in which it was said to include the salary of bank, private sector or PSU employees in the creamy layer. The court called it discriminatory and said that children of government employees and children of private or PSU employees cannot be treated differently. Until equivalence of PSU or private posts with Government Group Third or Fourth is decided, only the original orders of 1993 will remain in force.
This decision is a big relief for thousands of OBC candidates who were earlier denied reservation by considering them as creamy layer due to salary or other misinterpretation. Such people are in government jobs, but could not reach the right cadre or post. The court has directed to implement the decision retrospectively (from the previous date). DoPT has been given 6 months time to implement this decision. If necessary, supernumerary posts (additional posts) will be created, so that the seniority of other categories of employees is not affected.
Going forward, valid OBC-NCL certificate (issued from District Magistrate or Tehsildar) will be given preference in Civil Services Examination and rejection based only on salary will be stopped. This decision will restore the real purpose of OBC reservation, which is to provide benefits to the real needy backward classes. In many cases like Rohit Nathan (CSE-2012) and Ketan Batch (CSE-2015), DoPT will have to re-examine in 6 months and restore OBC-NCL status.
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