Disregard comments of the SC judges about creamy layer, Thirumavalavan tells Centre

VCK founder Thol. Thirumavalavan welcomes SC judgment on internal reservations for Arundhathiyar community, criticizes creamy layer concept.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) founder and Chidambaram MP Thol. Thirumavalavan on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgment that State government has the authority to provide internal reservations within the Scheduled Caste (SC) quota, which has validated the law to provide internal reservations for Arundhathiyar community.

In a statement, he said the VCK supported the internal reservation for the Arunthathiyar community during an all-party meeting convened by the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, and the Supreme Court’s decision only affirms the law enacted by the Tamil Nadu government.

“The Supreme Court justices also stated that appropriate evidence must be provided for granting internal reservations, which we welcome. However, it is shocking that some judges have expressed the view that a “creamy layer” income limit should be introduced for the SC category and that if someone has already advanced under reservation in the first generation, they should not be granted reservation benefits again. Reservations for the SC community have not been fully implemented by both State and Union governments in any sector,” he said, adding, “Thousands of positions that should have been filled by SC candidates have long remained vacant and were instead filled by others, deceptively by the governments.”

Mr. Thirumavalavan said there were hundreds of thousands of unfilled backlog vacancies as a result and introducing the creamy layer concept to exclude eligible candidates for reservation was not fair when reservations themselves were not completely implemented.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly delivered adverse rulings regarding the appointment and promotion of Schedule Caste individuals. This reflects the lack of social justice within the judiciary. The remarks about the creamy layer in this judgment are not part of the official order but merely the judges’ opinions. Therefore, they should not be considered part of the judgment and should be disregarded,” he said, adding: “Some State governments may use this ruling, which grants the authority to provide internal reservations, for political gain against the unity of the Scheduled Caste community. We caution that this issue should be approached with awareness.”

In another statement, Mr. Thirumavalavan also called for the arrest of Sri Lankan Navy personnel who opened fire against fishermen near Rameswaram and demanded they be tried for murder.