No reservation after religious conversion: Madras High Court

Madras High Court has observed that a person converted to another religion cannot carry the caste or community he used to belong to before such conversion, and therefore, cannot demand reservation based on caste after he has converted. 

In U Akbar Ali v The State of Tamil Nadu and another, Justice GR Swaminathan of Madras High Court was hearing a plea of a candidate who challenged the decision of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission of not granting him reservation under Backward Class(Muslim) and was considered a general category candidate.

Justice Swaminathan said that the case of whether a person can carry caste after religious conversion or not is a matter subjudice in the Supreme Court. Therefore, the High Court can’t uphold the claim of the petitioner and it refused to stay or overturn the action of the state commission.

THE HC OBSERVED

Kailash Shankar versus Maya Devi case in which the Supreme Court had observed that a caste that a Hindu belongs to is determined by his or her birth. Therefore, if a Hindu converts to Islam or Christianity or any other religion that does not recognise caste, the conversion amounts to “the loss of the said caste” and that the “original caste remains under eclipse, and as soon as the person is reconverted to the original religion, the eclipse disappears and the caste automatically revives.”

The petitioner was a Hindu belonging to Most Backward Class. He converted to Islam in 2008. He was given a community certificate by Zonal Deputy Tahsildar recognizing him as a person belonging to the Labbais community of Muslims (a backward community).

The High Court noted that such a certificate issued by Zonal Deputy Tahsildar is a breach of the law as it was below the status of a Government letter and the recruitment agency should disregard such certificates. 

The state government opposed the petition saying that not all Muslims have been categorized under the Backward Class but only 7 groups have been categorized and Labbais is one of them. In the certificate granted by a Kazi declaring the petitioner’s conversion to Islam, it is not mentioned that he has been converted into a ‘Labbais group’ of Muslims. It only states that the petitioner has converted to Islam.

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