The Supreme Court on 15 October 2026 dismissed an appeal by the Tamil Nadu government that sought to defend its policy of extending reservation benefits to people from backward communities who convert to Islam. A bench headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra held that a Hindu belonging to a backward community does not automatically become a member of a notified backward Muslim community merely by embracing Islam. The court said the state order creates an artificial group that would draw on reservation benefits meant for communities with their own recognised backwardness. The ruling leaves in place the Madras High Court decision that had gone against the state.
The dispute traces back to a government order dated 9 March 2024, issued on the recommendation of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission. That order was meant to ensure that converts from backward, most backward, denotified and Scheduled Caste groups did not lose quota benefits solely because they changed faith. The case itself began with a petitioner who converted from Hinduism in 2015, had the change gazetted in 2016 and then applied for a community certificate as a Muslim Lebbai, which the tahsildar refused. The High Court sided with the authorities, and the state then moved the Supreme Court, arguing that the petitioner had never actually challenged the validity of the 2024 order and that the High Court went too far.
Senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra appeared for the state when the apex court reserved its verdict in August. The judgment is likely to have wider consequences for reservation policy, since several states grapple with the question of how caste-based benefits interact with religious conversion.