The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a petition challenging the Madras High Court’s decision to quash a Tamil Nadu government order that allowed individuals converting to Islam from certain reserved categories to claim Backward Class (Muslim) reservation status.

The judgement was delivered by thebench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Shree Chandrasekhar.

The Court upheld the High Court’s order on constitutional principles, ruling that a person belonging to a backward class or Scheduled Caste within the Hindu social order cannot claim the benefit of reservation after embracing another religion.

The Court observed that social backwardness associated with the Hindu social order cannot simply be transferred to a non-Hindu social order upon conversion to another religion. With the dismissal of the petition, the Supreme Court has upheld the quashing of the Tamil Nadu government order concerning reservation benefits for individuals who converted to Islam from certain backward or Scheduled Caste categories.