Supreme Court holds conversion does not automatically grant quota benefits

The Supreme Court of India on Thursday (October 15, 2026) declared that a Hindu belonging to a backward community cannot claim the same reservation benefits as a Muslim backward class member merely on conversion to Islam.

The court clarified the law while dismissing a Tamil Nadu government appeal seeking confirmation of the State’s policy to provide reservation benefits to members of backward classes, most backward classes, de-notified communities and Scheduled Castes who embraced Islam.

The court held that a Tamil Nadu government order doing the same creates an “artificial group” which would access benefits of reservation associated with backward communities.

Justice Mishra, who read out the operative portion of the judgment, said the government’s notification of a community as backward for granting them benefits should be preceded by statutory social checks and data enumeration.

The State government had appealed a High Court order rejecting a plea by Sameer Ahamed, who converted from Hinduism to Islam in 2015.

The High Court had quashed a government order issued by the State on March 9, 2024, to ensure that “persons belonging to socially and educationally backward communities are not deprived of reservation benefits solely on account of conversion to Islam and thereby create a level playing field by preserving affirmative action benefits despite change of religion”.

The High Court had held in its June 25 judgment that “a person who embraces Islam cannot claim the status of backward class(Muslim)”. It had observed that a Hindu, on conversion to Islam, did not carry forward the benefits of the Hindu caste or sub-caste. The convert’s status in Islam was not decided by the caste he was part of prior to the conversion.

The High Court had noted that Christian missionaries, as well as Islamic preachers, maintained that their religions offered social equality unlike Hinduism, which had a caste hierarchy.

“Having taken such a stand for effecting conversions, it is disingenuous to claim that there is hierarchy in Islam also. In our respectful view, categorising certain sects as Backwards and the remaining as Forward is antithetical to Quranic injunctions. Islam seeks to establish an egalitarian society. Everyone is equal in the eyes of God. There is no social hierarchy,” the High Court had reasoned.

In the apex court, during the appeal hearing, the State had argued that it had authority, based on the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, to issue “backward classes (Muslim) community certificates to eligible persons who had embraced Islam from among the backward classes, most backward classes, denotified communities and Scheduled Castes”.

The State had contended that the 1951 judgment did not disable the State from classifying a convert who was previously socially and educationally backward as a backward Muslim under Articles 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution. It said the March 24 order applied to the “wholly distinct category of backward class notification, which contains no religion-based exclusion”.

But Justice Mishra had referred to a 1951 judgment of the Madras High Court in G. Michael versus S. Venkateswaran, regarding a Scheduled Caste member who converted to Christianity and wanted to contest a reserved seat. The 1951 verdict upheld the constitutional validity of Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.

Paragraph 3 stipulated that no person who professed a religion different from Hinduism (later amended to include Sikhism and Buddhism) should be deemed eligible for the benefits of a Scheduled Caste member.

Mr. Ahamed, a resident of Thoothukudi district, was born to Hindu parents. He had embraced Islam and was issued a certificate by the Sunnath Jamath, Kayathar, in 2015. He had applied for a community certificate certifying him as ‘Muslim Lebbai’. However, the Kayathar Tahsildar had rejected his application, compelling him to approach the Madras High Court. The March 2024 government was subsequently notified, and worked in his favour.