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The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its judgement on an appeal filed by the State of Tamil Nadu against the decision of the Madras High Court that a person who has converted to Islam was not entitled to Backwards Class (BC) reservation.

A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar reserved the judgement after hearing counsels appearing for the State and the other party. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the State, during the hearing, told 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.

Clash Over Government Order on Reservation

The appeal was filed against the June 25, 2026 judgement that struck down a March 2024 State Government Order (GO) that said a convert to Islam from Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, Denotified Communities or Scheduled Castes may be treated as BC (Muslim) for availing reservation. The GO had 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 High Court in its judgement had held that the GO was strictly against the judicial pronouncements made by the High Court and the Supreme Court, holding that a person converting to Islam could only be treated as a Muslim. The High Court had also noted that Christian missionaries as well as Islamic preachers had maintained that their religions offered social equality unlike Hinduism, which had a caste hierarchy.

The Petitioner's Plea

The order had come on a petition filed by Sameer Ahamed, who embraced Islam in 2015, and changed his name and married as per the adopted religion. Relying on the 2024 GO, he applied for a community certificate identifying him as a 'Muslim Lebbai', one of the seven Backwards Class Muslim communities recognised under the Tamil Nadu GO.

After his application was rejected by the Tehsildar, Sameer approached the High Court, placing reliance on the same GO in support of his claim.

State Government's Stance

The State government had argued that the GO was passed after detailed deliberation and it was passed only to ensure that those who already enjoyed the benefits of reservation would not lose it on account of conversion to Islam. The social balance would not be affected by granting a reservation to such persons, the State had submitted before the High Court.

The appeal has been filed in the apex court by the Secretary to the State Government against the High Court's decision, which declared unconstitutional the GO issued on March 9, 2024. (ANI)