New Delhi: The Supreme Court has agreed to set up a special bench to hear Cetre’s review plea for removal of the ‘retrospective clause’ in its March 11, 2026, ruling on Other Backward Classes (OBC) creamy-layer criteria applicability to (CSE) 2025.
Also, over and above the court proceedings, the union government has sought two years period to frame a clear, creamy-layer criteria guideline.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in its review petition said the SC delivered the creamy-layer judgment five days after the final results for CSE-2025 were already declared and the selection process was “substantially completed.”
The center said the judgment created confusion in the selection of nearly 100 OBC candidates who were selected.
The department has sought directions from the apex court to allocate services to all 958 UPSC-recommended candidates using the OBC creamy-layer criteria that were in force before the March 11 verdict.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, informed a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana that the DoPT had moved a miscellaneous application in a concluded case seeking urgent relief. He requested that it be placed before a bench headed by Justice P. S. Narasimha.
March 11 Ruling:
In a significant ruling, the SC in March this year held that the “creamy layer” status for reservation under the reservation policy cannot be determined solely on the basis of parental income, noting that the status and category of posts held by parents must also be considered.
A bench comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and R. Mahadevan had issued the verdict while rejecting civil appeals filed by the Centre and the Ministry of Personnel and Training (MoPT). The appeals contested orders of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and several High Courts that had provided relief to OBC candidates who cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination but were denied appointments after being deemed part of the creamy layer.
The earlier judgments had ruled that candidates could not be denied reservation benefits merely because their parents’ salaried income crossed the prescribed threshold. The Supreme Court upheld those decisions, providing relief to several UPSC candidates.