The Tamil Nadu government has moved the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court ruling which struck down its decision to extend reservation benefits under the Backward Class Muslim category to people from reserved communities who embraced Islam.
The state government order in March 2024 stated that individuals belonging to BCs, Most Backward Classes, Denotified Communities or SCs who converted to Islam would receive reservation benefits under the BC Muslim category.The Madurai bench of Madras High Court however declared the government order unconstitutional while dismissing the petition of a man who had embraced Islam and sought a community certificate identifying him as a member of the Muslim Lebbai community for reservation purposes.
Tamil Nadu has notified seven Muslim communities, including Muslim Lebbai, under the Backward Class Muslim category.
Relyingon earlier judgments of the Apex Court and the Madras High Court,the High Court observed that a Hindu who embraces Islam becomes a Muslim and no longer retains membership of the caste to which he belonged before conversion. It further held that the state government could not issue an order contrary to the earlier judicial ruling. Asper the HC, recognising conversion into any of the seven notified Backward Class Muslim communities undermined the legal position established in previous decisions.
The Apex Court will now examine the TN government’s challenge to the HC verdict.