Tamil Nadu approaches SC against High Court order on quota for Islam converts

Published 8 July 2026 · india

The Tamil Nadu government has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Madras High Court judgment that struck down its decision to extend reservation benefits under

The Tamil Nadu government has moved the Supreme Court challenging a Madras High Court judgment that struck down its decision to extend reservation benefits under the Backward Class Muslim (BCM) category to people who converted to Islam from Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC), Denotified Communities (DNC) and Scheduled Castes (SC). In a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed on July 6, the state has sought to overturn the Madurai Bench's 2026 ruling, which declared unconstitutional a Government Order (GO) issued in March 2024 allowing such converts to be treated as BC (Muslim) and issued community certificates for reservation purposes. Read Full Story The government order allowed people from the BC, MBC, DNC and SC communities who converted from Hinduism to Islam to continue availing reservation benefits under the BCM category, instead of losing their existing affirmative action benefits because of their religious conversion.

The 2024 order was introduced to ensure that individuals who already enjoyed reservation benefits under their original social category did not lose those benefits merely because they embraced Islam. The state has argued before the apex court that conversion does not erase the social and educational disadvantages associated with a person's caste background and that continuing reservation benefits is consistent with the principles of social justice. The Madras High Court, however, held that the government order was contrary to legal principles laid down by both the High Court and the Supreme Court. A bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and PB Balaji ruled that a person who converts to Islam can only be recognised as a Muslim and cannot automatically claim membership of one of the state's seven notified Backward Class Muslim communities.

These seven communities recognised under the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993, are Ansar, Dekkani Muslims, Dubekula, Labbais (including Rowthers and Marakkayars), Mapilla, Sheik and Syed. The High Court observed that these communities are birth-based social groups and that religious conversion alone does not entitle a person to be classified under them. It further noted that Islam preaches equality and that caste status cannot be acquired through conversion. According to a Live Law report, the judgment came on a petition filed by Sameer Ahamed, who converted from Hinduism to Islam in 2015 and later sought a community certificate identifying him as belonging to the Muslim Labbai community.