Former CJI B.R. Gavai revealed he was criticised by his own community for holding that the creamy layer principle should apply to SC reservations. He linked his stance to Ambedkar’s real vision of social and economic justice.
Former Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai said in Mumbai on Saturday that he had faced strong criticism from people of his own community after he stated in a judgment that the creamy layer rule should also apply to Scheduled Caste reservations.
Speaking at Mumbai University during a lecture on the role of affirmative action in ensuring equal opportunity, he linked his view to Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s idea of social justice. Gavai explained Ambedkar’s approach through a simple example and said,
“Babasaheb, in so far affirmative action is concerned, was of view that it is like providing a cycle to those who are lagging behind….suppose somebody is at tenth km and somebody at zero, he should be provided a cycle, so that he reaches faster till the tenth km. From there, he joins the person who is already there and walks along with him. Did he think that the person should not leave the cycle and carry forward and thereby ask the people who are at zero km to continue to be there?”
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He added that,
“In my view, that was not the vision of social and economic justice as contemplated by Babasaheb Ambedkar. He wanted to bring social and economic justice in the real sense and not in formal sense.”
Gavai also said that while the Supreme Court’s Indra Sawhney judgment first established the creamy layer principle, he later held in another case that the same principle should also apply to Scheduled Castes.
He explained that the creamy layer concept means people who are economically and socially advanced should not continue to receive reservation benefits even if they belong to a backward community.
He said he was attacked for this stand by members of his own community who felt he had benefited from reservation and later tried to deny it to those who had reached better positions.
Reacting to these accusations, he clarified that,
“these people did not even know that there is no reservation for the constitutional office of High Court or Supreme Court judge.”
Referring to real-life differences between socio-economic backgrounds, Gavai questioned whether equal treatment makes sense in all cases and asked,
“Can applying the same yardstick to the son of a chief justice of India or chief secretary and the son of a labourer who has studied in a gram panchayat school satisfy the test of equality as enshrined in the Constitution?”
Gavai emphasised that reservation and affirmative action have still played an important and positive role in India over the last several decades. He said he has personally seen the success stories of many people who have risen to top administrative and diplomatic positions because of opportunities made available to them.
According to him,
“I have traveled across the country, traveled across the world, I have seen many people belonging to the Scheduled Caste becoming chief secretary or director general of police or ambassadors and high commissioners.”
He also spoke about Maharashtra’s long history of social reform and praised the contributions of reformers like Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule. Gavai said Maharashtra is a region that can be described as the foundation of modern India’s social justice vision.
He noted that
“We are all aware about Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule’s pioneering work in eradication of inequalities in the society,”
and recalled how they focused on women’s empowerment at a time when women faced severe oppression.
He added that,
“When women were among most oppressed in society, it was the Phule couple who opened the door of education for them.”
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