Supreme Court rules religious converts cannot claim backward-class quota on pre-conversion caste status

On Thursday, October 15, the Supreme Court upheld a 2024 Madras High Court judgment that struck down Tamil Nadu's order allowing Hindu converts to Islam to claim backward-class (Muslim) reservation. A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar held that a person moving from the Hindu social order to a non-Hindu one cannot claim affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the Constitution merely on the backwardness associated with their pre-conversion caste, since that backwardness cannot be carried forward into the new religion. The Court also reiterated that under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, a person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism cannot be deemed a member of a Scheduled Caste. The ruling arose in the case of Sameer Ahamed (formerly Paramasivam), who converted to Islam in 2015 and sought a Muslim Lebbai community certificate. (The Economic Times, The Times of India) (Economic Times, Times of India)

• On Thursday, October 15, the Supreme Court upheld a 2024 Madras High Court judgment that struck down Tamil Nadu's order allowing Hindu converts to Islam to claim backward-class (Muslim) reservation.
• A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar held that a person moving from the Hindu social order to a non-Hindu one cannot claim affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the Constitution merely o
• The Court also reiterated that under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, a person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism cannot be deemed a member of a Scheduled Caste.