Kottayam: Various Adivasi-Dalit organisations on Tuesday called for a state-wide hartal in Kerala on August 21, to protest the recent Supreme Court verdict on the sub-categorisation of reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as granted under the Constitution.

In a joint statement signed by leaders of various Adivasi-Dalit organisations, it was alleged that the verdict aimed to divide the SC/ST list on a caste basis and introduce a 'creamy layer' within SC/ST categories. They said the hartal will exempt Wayanad district due to the recent natural disasters.

The outfits announced that the state-wide hartal is part of the Bharat Bandh called by the Bhim Army and various Dalit-Bahujan movements. The primary demand is for Parliament to pass legislation overturning the Supreme Court verdict, according to the statement. Despite the BJP government's assurance that it will not implement the creamy layer, the central government has yet to acknowledge that the creamy layer division is the basis for categorising the list, they alleged.

Earlier this month, a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud ruled in a 6:1 majority judgment that state governments were permitted to sub-classify communities within the SC list based on empirical data. Supreme Court judge Justice B R Gavai had said that States must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even among the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Schedule Tribes (ST) and deny them the benefit of reservation.

Justice Gavai penned a separate but concurring judgment in which the top court by a majority verdict said the states are empowered to make sub-classifications of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for granting quotas within the reserved category to uplift those who belong to the more underprivileged castes. The Union Cabinet has asserted that there was no provision for a creamy layer in the reservation for SCs and STs in the Constitution given by B R Ambedkar.
(With PTI inputs)