Who counts as creamy layer, and who decides
Income thresholds, exclusions, and the revisions since the original memorandum.
Research desk · Reviewed by Legal committee
The creamy-layer rule excludes the most advanced members of a category from reservation benefit. Who falls inside it is decided by an income threshold and a set of status tests, both of which have been revised repeatedly since the original memorandum.
The moving threshold
The income criterion has been revised several times; the operative figure is the one in the most recent gazette notification, which also clarifies which income heads count toward the computation. Quoting a superseded threshold is one of the most common errors in this debate — it is the subject of one of our own published corrections.
Who applies the test
Exclusion certificates are issued by designated officers against a checklist. What that checklist contains, and how long processing takes, is exactly the kind of record an RTI application can obtain — see the RTI track for tested wording.
A fuller revision-by-revision history is in preparation; the operative notification is attached as the source for this guide.
Sources for this guide
- [1]NOTIFICATIONRevision of income criteria for creamy-layer exclusionPDF · 320 KB
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