NEW DELHI — In a definitive verdict on the constitutional limits of affirmative action, the Supreme Court ruled that individuals originating from Scheduled Castes (SC) or Other Backward Classes (OBC) within the Hindu social hierarchy forfeit caste-based reservation benefits upon converting to another religion.
Delivering the judgment, the apex court affirmed a Madras High Court decree that invalidated a Tamil Nadu government measure granting reservation privileges to Hindu converts to Islam. Dismissing the challenges mounted against the High Court’s position, the bench stated that systemic handicaps rooted in Hindu caste structures do not automatically migrate with a person into their chosen faith.
The bench stressed that historical caste disadvantages cannot serve as an open-ended entitlement across different religious systems. The court underscored that affirmative action frameworks tied to specific social stratifications are legally non-transferable once an individual disassociates from the faith community under which those remedial provisions were originally recognized.
