The Tamil Nadu government has preferred a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court against a judgment of the Madras High Court which, holding that Islam by its essential tenets admits of no social or community hierarchy but is founded upon the principle of equality, declined to recognise the continuance of Backwards Class status in favour of a person who had embraced the Islamic faith.
The State has contended that reservation benefits attaching to members of the Backwards Classes, Most Backwards Classes, Denotified Communities and Scheduled Castes under Hinduism ought, upon conversion to Islam, to continue in favour of such converts by treating them as Backwards Class Muslims.
The controversy had its genesis in a writ petition instituted by a resident of Thoothukudi District, born into a Hindu family, who, having embraced Islam in 2015 and thereafter altered his name, obtained a certificate from the Sunnath Jamath, Kayathar, affirming his conversion and applied for the issuance of a community certificate describing him as a Muslim Lebbai. His application having been rejected by the Tahsildar, he invoked the writ jurisdiction of the High Court.
Whilst the proceedings remained pending, the State issued a Government Order in 2024 providing that converts to Islam belonging to the Backwards Classes, Most Backwards Classes, Denotified Communities and Scheduled Castes should be treated as Backwards Class Muslims for the purpose of reservation.
The High Court, however, struck down the order as being unconstitutional, observing that caste identity under Hinduism could not, merely by reason of conversion, be carried into a religion whose theological foundation rejects social stratification.
The Court observed that Islam sought to establish an egalitarian society wherein all believers stood equal before God and further remarked that, having historically projected Islam as a faith free from caste distinctions, it was incongruous to contend that sections within the community could nevertheless be categorised as backward or forward for the purposes of reservation.