Further, the government has said that the current matter — that of seeking an income-based creamy layer for SCs/STs — neither raises a constitutional issue nor discloses the violation of any fundamental right under the Constitution. The government was referring to certain parts of the petitions that cited certain judgments to argue for exclusion of creamy layer in the quota for SCs and STs as well. Responding to this aspect, the Centre said that the judgment cited in the M. Nagaraj case had merely referred to the creamy layer concept, which appeared to be a “general observation” with regards to reservations for OBCs. The argument that a creamy layer concept for SC and ST reservations should be introduced picked up pace after the 2024 judgment by a seven-judge Bench in State of Punjab vs Davinder Singh, where Justice (Retd.) Gavai had noted in his opinion that the government “must” find a way to identify a creamy layer for SCs and STs even if the criteria for this identification was different than that for OBCs.