The Indra Sawhney and Others Vs Union of India case enunciated the creamy layer principle, and in another case, he himself held that creamy layer should also be made applicable to the Scheduled Castes, said Gavai.

The principle demands that those who are sufficiently advanced economically and socially should not get the benefit of affirmative action even though they are members of the backward community for which it is meant.

He was "widely criticized" by the people of his own community for this judgement, Gavai said, adding that he was accused of taking benefit of reservation himself to become a Supreme Court judge and then advocating the exclusion of those who fell in the creamy layer.

But these people did not even know that there is no reservation for the constitutional office of High Court or Supreme Court judge, Gavai said.

Can applying the same yardstick to the son of a chief justice of India or chief secretary and the son of a labourer who has studied in a gram panchayat school satisfy the test of equality as enshrined in the Constitution, he asked.

Gavai, however, emphasized that in the last 75 years "no doubt affirmative action has played a positive role".

"I have traveled across the country, traveled across the world, I have seen many people belonging to the Scheduled Caste becoming chief secretary or director general of police or ambassadors and high commissioners," he said.

Maharashtra is a land of social reformers, and the "region can truly be described as the birthplace of the idea of modern India", Gavai said.

"We are all aware about Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule's pioneering work in eradication of inequalities in the society," he said.

When women were among most oppressed in society, it was the Phule couple who opened the door of education for them, he noted.