The Supreme Court on Thursday declared that a Hindu belonging to a Backward order cannot claim the same reservation benefits as a Muslim Backward Class member merely on conversion to Islam or other religions.

“A person who converts from a Hindu social order to a non-Hindu social order cannot claim affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the Constitution merely on the basis of the social backwardness associated with his pre-conversion status,” the court held.

It clarified the law while dismissing a Tamil Nadu government appeal seeking confirmation of a government order issued by the State government in March 2024 to provide reservation benefits to members of Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, De-notified communities and Scheduled Castes who embraced Islam. The policy of the State was intended to create a level playing field by preserving affirmative action despite change of religion.

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A Bench headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra held that a member of a Backward Hindu community does not automatically become a member of a notified Backward Muslim community merely by going through the act of conversion.

The court said a caste identity cannot be treated as an immutable personal attribute irrespective of a change in religious affiliation. It said the constitutional benefits of reservation under Article 16(4) cannot be made to travel from the religion in which the relevant backwardness arose to a religion of which basic theological structure did not recognise caste as its foundational basis.

“No statutory benefit, protection, reservation or other entitlement under Article 16(4) of the Constitution, the enjoyment of which is predicated upon a particular Hindu social order, can be claimed or extended merely on the basis of such antecedent membership after the person has converted to Islam, Christianity or any other non-Hindu social order. Conversion severs the legal foundation of an entitlement specifically conditioned upon membership of that Hindu social order,” the court held.

The State’s appeal was based on a Madras High Court decision to reject the petition of a convert to Islam, Sameer Ahamed. The Thoothukudi resident, born to Hindu parents, changed his faith to Islam in 2015. He was issued a certificate of his conversion by the Sunnath Jamath. He had subsequently applied for a community certificate certifying him as ‘Muslim Lebbai’, but the request was declined by the Tahsildar.

Confirming the High Court’s decision to deny him quota benefits, the court explained that the identity of a Backward class of Muslim community was historically constituted by social membership. A mere declaration of conversion cannot be treated as proof of such membership.

“A Jamath may certify that a person has embraced Islam… however, it cannot, merely by issuing a testimonial, conclusively determine a statutory Backward Class status,” Justice Mishra, who authored the judgment, held.

Justice Mishra said the fundamental defect in the March 2024 government order was that it treated the historical disadvantage of a person in one religion as sufficient proof of membership in a particular Backward class in another religion.

The government order did not explain why a Hindu belonging to one Backward Class community or a Most Backward Class community or a De-notified Community or a Scheduled Caste should, upon conversion to Islam, became a member of one or another of seven pre-existing Backward Muslim communities, Justice Mishra observed.

Besides, the court said that a Scheduled Caste status of a person could neither be altered or recreated by a mere executive order of a State. The Scheduled Caste status was specifically governed by Article 341 which mandated that only the President could notify a group as Scheduled Caste.

Besides, the court noted that Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 expressly provided that a person professing a religion other than Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist would not be considered a member of a Scheduled Caste.

“Thus, upon conversion to a religion outside those specified in Paragraph 3, a person cannot continue to claim Scheduled Caste status merely by reference to his caste of origin… Consequently, upon conversion to a religion not specified therein, such person ceases to possess the Scheduled Caste status,” the court noted.