Overview
- The Supreme Court dismissed Tamil Nadu’s appeal on Thursday, October 15, 2026, and upheld the Madras High Court’s June 25 judgment that struck down the state’s March 9, 2024 order allowing converts to be treated as Backward Class Muslims for quota purposes.
- The case began with petitioner Sameer Ahamed (born Paramasivam), who converted to Islam in 2015, applied for a ‘Muslim Labbai’ community certificate, was refused by the tahsildar, and challenged that rejection in the Madras High Court.
- The bench relied on the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and precedent to hold that a person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism cannot claim Scheduled Caste or related caste-based entitlements after conversion.
- The court ruled that social backwardness tied to a prior Hindu social order cannot by itself be transposed into membership of a notified Muslim backward community and said state recognition must follow statutory social verification and empirical data collection.
- The decision bars states from using lone executive notifications to protect reservation entitlements after conversion, will require Backward Classes Commissions and revenue authorities to follow formal processes, and may affect similar policies nationwide.