PTI

New Delhi, Jul 1: In a move that could allow reservation benefits to a larger section of Other Backward Classes (OBC), the upper income limit for creamy layer to be excluded from this category is likely to double.

The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) will submit a report in this regard to Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar on Tuesday.

"We will submit our recommendation on the new ceiling tomorrow. Before this, commission members will finalise ceiling amount," said NCBC member secretary Luxmi Chand.

Sources in the Commission said the NCBC has submitted its assessment report and the ceiling is likely to be fixed around Rs 5 lakh annually instead of the present Rs 2.5 lakh. The first ceiling for OBC reservation was fixed at Rs 1 lakh annually in 1993.

With prices of commodities rising manifolds and income level of OBCs rising in monetary terms, the demand to raise the ceiling was pending for long.

Those OBCs belonging to the creamy layer cannot claim benefits, including reservation in jobs and professional courses that are available to rest of the category.

The NCBC, which functions under the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment, had sought views of all state backward class commissions on the ceiling amount.

The states had demanded a hike of two to ten times in the ceiling limit. They also wanted exclusion of properties that yield no income and fixing of separate land limits in different areas while deciding the creamy layer category.

Karnataka had demanded the maximum ceiling rise of Rs 25 lakh, ten times that of the existing one, citing price rises and escalating living costs.

Following a meeting with the state backward class commissions more than a fortnight ago, the NCBC entrusted its research team to study price indices and other related factors before arriving at a ceiling limit.

NCBC member Abdul Ali Azizi said that all demands have been discussed by the Commission before arriving at the ceiling limit. He said the Commission has also received the recommendations of the state bodies in this regard.

The revised ceiling recommendation is likely to have some provisions that may stretch the ambit of reservation beneficiaries to include more OBC population both in rural and urban areas, who have non-earning real estate and huge tracts of hallow land, the NCBC sources said.