Supreme Court bars Hindu converts to Islam from Muslim backward class reservation in Tamil Nadu

Key facts

• The Supreme Court upheld a Madras High Court judgment striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that allowed backward classes, most backward classes, denotified communities and scheduled caste converts to Islam to be issued community certificates of notified backward class Muslim sects.
• A bench of Justices PK Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar held that a person's pre-conversion status cannot confer backwardness, and that conversion severs the legal foundation of caste-based backwardness under Article 16(4) of the Constitution.
• The high court had held that membership of notified Muslim communities such as Labbai, Rowther, Marakkayar or Deccani Muslim is determined solely by birth and cannot be acquired by conversion, as they are distinct socio-cultural communities rather than theological sects.
• The case originated from a petition by Paramasivam, a Hindu who converted to Islam in 2015 and adopted the name Sameer Ahmed, after district authorities rejected his application for a Backward Class Muslim certificate as a Labbai Muslim.
• The Tamil Nadu government had argued the 2024 order was based on the recommendation of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, an argument rejected by the bench.