Supreme Court Denies Reservation Benefits to Hindu-to-Islam Converts

The Supreme Court of India dismissed an appeal by the Tamil Nadu government on October 15, 2026, ruling that individuals who convert from Hinduism to another religion cannot claim reservation benefits under Article 16(4) of the Constitution based solely on the social backwardness of their pre-conversion caste. The decision upholds a Madras High Court ruling that struck down a March 9, 2024, government order which allowed converts to Islam to be treated as Backward Class Muslims for quota purposes.

The legal dispute began when Sameer Ahamed, who converted to Islam in 2015, sought a community certificate as a Muslim Lebbai. The court clarified that backwardness suffered in a previous social order does not confer membership in a notified backward class of a new religion. Justices PK Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar noted that the 1950 Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order restricts such status to those professing Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism.

DMK president M.K. Stalin responded by urging the Tamil Nadu government to file a Special Leave Petition to challenge the ruling. Stalin argued that social backwardness is the result of a system built over thousands of years and that religious conversion does not erase that status. He maintained that denying reservations on the grounds of conversion is against social justice.