Plea for community certificate led to TN quota benefits case

N Paramasivam, whose petition led the Madras high court to strike down reservation benefits for Muslims who convert from other religions, was born Hindu and embraced Islam in 2015, adopting the name N Sameer Ahmad. The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Madras high court decision that barred the Tamil Nadu government from providing reservation to those who convert to Islam on the basis of their pre-conversion status.

Paramasivam was born to Narayanan and Gomathiammal in Thoothukudi district on April 12, 1993. According to his petition, he converted to Islam in 2015 and married a Muslim woman in accordance with Islamic rituals. The couple has two children, his advocate R Maheswaran said.

In 2015, Paramasivam applied for a community certificate identifying him as a member of the Muslim Lebbai community, which is classified as a Backward Class, to avail of reservation benefits. In 2016, a local revenue official (tehsildar) rejected his application, stating that he had converted to a religion and not to a particular caste. Subsequently, he approached the high court.

His application relied on a March 9, 2024, government order (GO) issued by the TN government in 2024, which was backed by the recommendation of Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission providing 3.5% reservation to the backward castes, most backward castes and scheduled castes from Muslim community under the Tamil Nadu Backward Class Muslims Reservation Act, 2007.

The Madras high court subsequently declared the government order unconstitutional, holding that conversion to Islam alone did not entitle a person to claim membership of a notified Backward Class Muslim community.

In its ruling, a division bench of Justices G R Swaminathan and P B Balaji upheld the revenue official’s decision to reject Paramasivam’s application.

“Once we find that the said G.O is illegal, it is our bounden judicial duty to declare it to be so. We accordingly declare that the said G.O is unconstitutional. The order impugned in the writ petition is sustained. This writ petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs. Connected Miscellaneous Petition is closed. As a corollary, 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,” the bench said.

The order also said that conversion did not automatically make a person a member of any of the seven notified Backward Class Muslim communities in Tamil Nadu. A person’s previous caste or community status could not automatically be transferred to the Muslim backward-class category.

The apex court’s latest ruling upholding HC’s decision has drawn contrasting reactions from political parties in the state.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, saying a person converting to Islam could not automatically claim Backward Class Muslim reservation on the basis of their previous Hindu caste status.

“Conversion makes a person a Muslim. It does not make them a member of any of Tamil Nadu’s BCM communities. Pre-conversion backwardness cannot be carried over. This is a settled constitutional law,” he said.

DMK president M K Stalin, however, urged the state government to immediately seek a review of the verdict, calling it contrary to social justice.

“The verdict of Supreme Court stating that people from backward classes who convert to Islam need not be provided reservation under the BC (M) category is against ‘social justice’. The Tamil Nadu government must immediately file a review petition against this judgment and uphold the reservation rights of those from backward communities who adopt Islam,” Stalin said.