NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict on the Tamil Nadu government’s plea against a Madras High Court judgment which held that a person converting to Islam was not entitled to claim reservation under the Backward Class (Muslim) category solely on the basis of conversion.
A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar reserved the judgement after hearing from counsel appearing for the state and the other parties.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for TN, submitted to the bench that the object behind the state government’s order of March 9, 2024 was to ensure that persons belonging to socially and educationally backward communities are not deprived of reservation benefits solely on account of conversion to Islam.
The HC’s judgment arose from a petition filed by Sameer Ahamed, who converted from Hinduism to Islam in 2015, with the conversion being notified through a Gazette notification in 2016.
He subsequently married according to Islamic rites and sought a certificate identifying him as a member of ‘Muslim Lebbai’ community to avail reservation benefits. His application was rejected by the tahsildar, prompting him to move the high court.
The appeal was filed by the TN govt against the June 25, 2026 HC judgement that struck down a March 2024 GO that said a convert to Islam from Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, Denotified Communities or SCs may be treated as BC (Muslim) for availing reservation. The GO had also said that the person be issued with a community certificate as belonging to one of the 7 notified sects for availing reservation upon conversion.
The TN government filed its plea through Thoothukudi collector and the revenue divisional officer, who were aggrieved by the declaration of unconstitutionality of government order (GO) No. 31 and the consequential findings.
The issue before the Court was whether a person converting to Islam can claim reservation under the Backward Class (Muslim) category solely on the basis of conversion. The Madras HC had earlier held that such a person is not entitled to BC (Muslim) reservation just because of religious conversion.
As per the HC, eligibility must be determined by social and educational backwardness, not religion alone. The TN government challenged this view, in the apex court, arguing that the state’s reservation policy recognises converts as part of the BC (Muslim) category if they meet the criteria of backwardness.
The SC ruling is expected to clarify the legal position on quota claims by religious converts and could impact similar policies in other states.
