Tamil Nadu on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it would continue to provide 69% reservation to the OBCs, ST/SCs and backward classes in educational institutions in for the betterment of the economically weaker sections of society.

Justified its reservation policy against the Supreme Court ruling, which said that reservation could not be more than 50% under any circumstance, the state said that there was no simple formula for determining the creamy layer for their exclusion the benefits.

At least 88% of its population belonged to reserved categories like the OBCs, SC/ST, the application filed by a deputy secretary in the department of backward classes, most backward classes and minorities welfare department, said.

The state also contended that 68% reservation had been enforced in the state since 1980 and the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes SC/ST (Reservation in private educational institutions) Act 2006 was introduced only after 93rd Constitutional amendment.

“Based on the Constitutional amendment, the state had enacted the Tamil Nadu Act, 2006 to give effect to the principles enshrined in Article 46 of the Constitution,” the affidavit said.

A bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat granted four weeks time to the petitioner Voice, an NGO, to file its reply to the government’s affidavit. According to the state government, caste cannot be the sole criteria for reservations.