Srinagar, Oct 15: The Supreme Court on Thursday held that persons belonging to Hindu backward classes cannot claim reservation benefits under a different notified Backward Class category after converting to Islam solely on the basis of their social status before conversion.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar dismissed an appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging a Madras High Court judgment that had struck down a state government order permitting eligible converts from Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, Denotified Communities and Scheduled Castes to be treated as Backward Class Muslims for reservation purposes.
The apex court observed that social backwardness associated with a person’s earlier social order cannot automatically be carried forward to establish membership of a different notified backward class community following religious conversion.
“Backwardness suffered in the antecedent social order cannot by itself be carried forward,” the bench held, emphasising that conversion to Islam does not automatically confer membership of any particular notified Backward Class Muslim community.
The case arose from a petition filed by Sameer Ahamed, formerly known as Paramasivam, who was born into a Hindu family in Tamil Nadu and subsequently converted to Islam. After his conversion, he applied for a community certificate identifying him as a Muslim Lebbai, a community recognised under the state’s Backward Class Muslim category.
The local revenue authorities rejected his application, prompting him to approach the Madras High Court. The High Court upheld the rejection and struck down the Tamil Nadu government’s March 9, 2024, order that had provided a route for certain converts to claim benefits under the Backward Class Muslim category. The state subsequently challenged that judgment before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court also referred to Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, which provides that a person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism cannot be deemed a member of a Scheduled Caste under the Order.
The bench clarified that a person’s earlier caste or community identity cannot, merely because of conversion, be transferred into membership of another notified backward class community. Eligibility for reservation must rest on the applicable constitutional and legal requirements rather than conversion alone.
The court further observed that even in cases of reconversion to Hinduism, entitlement to reservation cannot be determined solely by referring to a person’s former status. The competent authority must undertake an independent, fact-specific assessment of whether the original caste or social identity has genuinely revived and whether the applicable legal conditions are satisfied.
With the dismissal of the Tamil Nadu government’s appeal, the Madras High Court’s judgment striking down the 2024 government order remains in force.
