Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Friday said he believes that his observation to exclude the creamy layer from SC/ST reservations was right, and he firmly stands by it.
Creamy layer remark
While speaking during his farewell speech, the Chief Justice of India defended his verdict on the sub-classification of Scheduled Castes, where he had observed that there must be a state policy to exclude the creamy layer from SC/ST advantages. Gavai said he faced criticism from his community over the verdict.
According to Live Law, the CJI said he posed a question to himself, asking whether a son of a tribal, living in a tribal area, can be made to compete with his son. He questioned, “Would a tribal son’s schooling be in equality with his son?”
Clerk refused quota
Gavai also shared that one of his law clerks, who was the son of a Maharashtra officer, told him that he would not take the benefits of the SC category as he also hails from the community.
Justice Gavai said that the boy understood, but politicians refused to understand the same.
Justice Gavai mentioned Ambedkar
“The warning that he had given in his speech on 25th November 1949, that unless we remove the socio-economic inequalities and take a step forward or march towards achieving social and economic justice, the edifice of democracy would fall like a house of cards,” Justice Gavai said, quoting Dr BR Ambedkar’s speech before the enactment of the Constitution of India as a caution.
The CJI expressed his thanks to his fellow judges, his wife and children, and his law clerks for their cooperation. He said he would like to work for the betterment of tribal people after his retirement.
