The Madras High Court has ruled that a person who converts to Islam cannot claim the status of a Backward Class category Muslim and cited the Prophet on the issue. The court dismissed as illegal a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order (GO) giving quota in such instances. The court observed that the classification of some sects as ‘backward’ and others as ‘forward’ is against the injunctions of the Quran.
A panel of Justices G R Swaminathan and P B Balaji consequently upheld an order rejecting a man’s plea for a “Muslim Lebbai” community certificate. The court rejected the appeal of the applicant and added, “As a corollary, we hold that a convert to Islam cannot claim the status of Backward Class Muslim. “he is just a Muslim and that is all there is to it.”
The court noted that an individual Hindu man converting to Islam would be “an exercise of one’s fundamental right under Article 25 of the Constitution of India”. “But when, after such transformation, the convertee continues to claim the benefit of reservation, it sets off another conversation, nay debate, on the legitimacy and legality of such demand,” it added in the order dated June 25.
The petitioner married a woman as per the Islamic rituals and customs and has two children in 2016. He has sought for a community certificate stating him as “Muslim Lebbai” since he follows the beliefs of that particular community. He sought the high court after his application was refused by the tahsildar at Kayathar.
If a forward community change to Islam, he would not obtain the BC (Muslim) designation, he said. Those already enjoying the advantage of reservation would not lose it on account of conversion to Islam. “So as he said, the social balance will not be affected,” the decree said.
The speaker further said that the designated sects in Islam followed distinct religion and customs and it was for the Jamath involved to admit the convertee into one of the sects. He stated that once a certificate is provided by the Jamath, it is not for the tax authority to dispute the same. The man’s attorney also submitted that the court was also not warranted in reconsidering the same and urged the bench not to strike down the GO.
Constitution bars discrimination
The bench pointed out that the Constitution bars discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sects, place of birth etc, but the State is empowered to make special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.
Reservation policies are in pursuance of the above constitutional duty . The Government has listed a number of backward groups, apart from enumerating the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, because reservation benefits cannot be given on the only premise of religion. “In the present case, the question is reservation for backward classes among Muslims. “The Government of Tamil Nadu has deliberately and if we may say so, righteously not included all persons professing Islam under the BC category,” the decision continued.
It said the administration has recognised just a handful Islam groups that were under the Backward Class designation. “Some sects like the Dawoodi Bohras are socially and educationally advanced, it is a matter of judicial notice. The original list of BC (Muslims) was thereafter enlarged on the basis of submissions obtained from the members of the specific communities,” it claimed.
The bench named seven sects of Muslims to have been designated as Backward Class Muslims according to Section 3(a) of the Tamil Nadu Act 45 of 1994 and observed that a Muslim who does not belong to any of the above sects cannot be deemed a BC Muslim.
