Published Oct 15, 2026 | 12:50 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 15, 2026 | 12:50 PM
DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.
DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged the Tamil Nadu government to immediately file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict rejecting reservation benefits for people from backward communities who convert to Islam.
Stalin said social backwardness was rooted in centuries of social structures and did not disappear merely because a person changed their religion. He described the denial of BC reservation benefits to people converting to Islam as contrary to the principles of social justice.
Recalling the previous DMK government’s resolution urging the Union government to amend the Constitution to extend reservation benefits to Scheduled Caste people who convert to Christianity, Stalin said the present Tamil Nadu government should continue pursuing the demand.
He maintained that reservation for BC, MBC and SC communities should be based on the social oppression they have faced, arguing that denying benefits on the grounds of religion would amount to social injustice.
The Supreme Court earlier on Wednesday upheld the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court’s June 25, 2026, order striking down the Tamil Nadu government’s March 2024 order that extended Backward Class Muslim (BC(M)) reservation eligibility to eligible converts from BC, MBC, Denotified Communities and Scheduled Castes.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar observed that backwardness experienced in a person’s former social order cannot, by itself, be carried forward to confer membership of a different notified backward-class community after conversion.
The court further clarified that conversion to a non-Hindu social order does not automatically establish membership of any particular backward-class community. A person’s pre-conversion caste or community status cannot simply be transferred to a different notified community in the post-conversion social order.
The Tamil Nadu government issued Government Order (Ms.) No. 31 on March 9, 2024, following a recommendation by the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission. The order provided for eligible converts from the specified categories to be treated as Backward Class Muslims for reservation purposes.
The move was intended to protect people from socially and educationally backward backgrounds from losing access to reservation benefits solely because they had converted to Islam.
The dispute arose after Sameer Ahamed, who was born into a Hindu family and converted to Islam in 2015, sought a community certificate identifying him as belonging to the Muslim Lebbai community. His conversion was notified through a Gazette notification in 2016.
After the revenue authorities rejected his application, he approached the Madras High Court.
On June 25, 2026, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court struck down the State government’s March 2024 order.
(With inputs from Subash Chandra Bose. Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
