New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said converts from Hinduism cannot claim reservation benefits based on their former caste or community status.




A bench of justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar delivered the ruling after hearing the Tamil Nadu government's appeal against a 2024 Madras High Court judgment. The high court had earlier struck down a state order, allowing Hindu converts to Islam from marginalised communities to claim status under the state's backward class (Muslim) category.




The court held that backwardness associated with a person's earlier caste cannot, by itself, be carried forward to confer membership of a different notified backward-class community after conversion.




It said conversion to a non-Hindu religion does not automatically make a person a member of any particular notified backward-class community. A person's former caste or community status cannot simply be transferred to a Muslim backward-class category based on religious conversion.



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The bench held that statutory benefits under Article 16(4) of the Constitution, which permits reservation in public employment for inadequately represented backward classes, cannot be claimed solely on the strength of antecedent membership of a social group where the entitlement depends on the earlier social order.




The court reiterated that under Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, a person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism cannot be deemed to be a member of a scheduled caste. Hence, a person converting to a religion outside these faiths ceases to possess scheduled caste status under the existing legal framework.




The ruling arose from a case involving Sameer Ahamed, formerly known as Paramasivam, who converted from Hinduism to Islam in 2015. A gazette notification recording his conversion was issued in 2016. He later applied for a community certificate recognising him as belonging to the Muslim Lebbai community to claim quota benefits.




His application was rejected by local authorities, prompting him to approach the Madras High Court. The dispute brought under scrutiny the Tamil Nadu government's 2024 order, which sought to facilitate the issuance of community certificates to eligible converts from specified social categories.