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Updated – August 07, 2026 01:42 pm IST – NEW DELHI:
The Supreme Court.
| Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap
The Supreme Court on Friday (August 7, 2026) agreed to pronounce judgment on a Tamil Nadu government appeal seeking confirmation of the State’s power to frame and implement policy to provide reservation benefits to members of backward classes, most backward classes, denotified communities and Scheduled Castes who convert to Islam.
A Bench headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra reserved orders on the State government’s stand that it has the authority, based on the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, to issue “backward classes (Muslim) community certificates to eligible persons who had embraced Islam among the backward classes, most backward classes, denotified communities and Scheduled Castes”.
The State, represented by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, said the object behind its government order of March 9, 2024 was to ensure that “persons belonging to socially and educationally backward communities are not deprived of reservation benefits solely on account of conversion to Islam and thereby create a level playing field by preserving affirmative action benefits despite change of religion”.