TN moves SC against HC order striking down quota benefits for converts to Islam

THe Tamil Nadu regime has approached the sublime margaret court thought-provoking the Madras heights Court’s judgment that struck down a government order allowing persons from Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC), Denotified Communities (DNC) and Scheduled Castes (SC), who converted to Islam, to continue availing reservation benefits by treating them as Backward Class Muslims (BCM).The special leave petition, filed through advocate B Karunakaran, is presently under the Supreme Court Registry’s defect scrutiny and is expected to be listed before the court after the defects are cured or a specific directive on listing before an appropriate bench is secured by the state.The high court, in its June 25 judgment, had declared the March 9, 2024 government order issued by the then DMK government as “unconstitutional”, holding that the state could not, through an executive order, override binding judicial precedents which have consistently held that a person who converts to Islam becomes “just a Muslim” and cannot claim membership of one of the state’s seven notified Backward Class Muslim communities.A division bench of justices GR Swaminathan and PB Balaji had held: “We hold that a convert to Islam cannot claim the status of Backward Class Muslim. He is only a Muslim and that’s all there is to it.”Also Read: SC: Banks cannot blacklist lawyers over negligenceThe seven communities recognised as Backward Class Muslims in Tamil Nadu are Ansar, Dekkani Muslims, Dubekula, Labbais (including Rowther and Marakayar), Mapilla, Sheik and Syed. These communities were grouped under a separate Backward Class Muslim category through a government order issued in July 2008 and are reflected in the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act.The 2024 government order had directed that persons belonging to Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, Denotified Communities and Scheduled Castes, who embraced Islam, would continue to receive reservation benefits by being treated as Backward Class Muslims. It also permitted issuance of community certificates identifying such converts as belonging to any one of the State’s seven notified BCM communities, making them eligible for reservation under the BCM category.The high court, however, held that the state’s assumption that a convert could be issued a certificate showing membership of one of those communities was “legally and conceptually unsustainable”.The bench relied on a 1951 Madras High Court judgment, which had held that when a Hindu converts to Islam, the person becomes a Muslim only and not a member of any particular Muslim community such as Labbai, Rowther, Marakkayar or Syed. Such communities, the bench observed, are birth-based and cannot be acquired merely through conversion.“As held by the Division Bench of the Madras High Court more than 75 years ago, upon conversion to Islam, one becomes a Muslim. The Hon’ble Division Bench used the expression, ‘Just a Mussalman’. He cannot be pigeonholed into any particular sect or community which can be only by virtue of one’s birth therein,” the high court had said.The judgment came on a petition filed by Sameer Ahamed, who was born into a Hindu family, converted to Islam in 2015 and subsequently sought a community certificate identifying him as a Muslim Labbai.His application was rejected by the local Tahsildar in 2022 on the ground that he had converted to a religion and not to a caste or community. While his writ petition challenging the rejection was pending before the High Court, the State issued the 2024 government order.The high court noted that Ahamed’s claim had no legal foundation when the petition was instituted and acquired significance only after the issuance of the government order. Instead of granting him relief, however, the court examined the validity of the government order and struck it down.Holding that the executive cannot nullify or circumvent binding judicial precedents through an executive order, the bench observed that although Islam seeks to establish an egalitarian society, several Muslim communities in Tamil Nadu are historically birth-based.“Just as caste is determined by birth, one is a Rowther or Marakkayar or Deccani Muslim by birth alone. It is ridiculous to suggest that one can be converted into a Rowther Muslim,” it said.Declaring the government order unconstitutional, the high court dismissed Ahamed’s plea.