Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 15: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Madras High Court order quashing the Tamil Nadu government’s notification granting reservation benefits to people converting to Islam.

A bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Shree Chandrashekhar dismissed the Tamil Nadu government’s appeal challenging the high court’s decision.

The Supreme Court held that a person’s social backwardness cannot automatically be transferred from the Hindu social order to a non-Hindu social order following conversion.

In its appeal, the Tamil Nadu government argued that the high court’s judgment raised substantial questions about the permissible scope of judicial interference in executive policy. The state maintained that the policy had been framed on the recommendations of an expert statutory commission.

The Supreme Court, however, upheld the high court’s order, rejecting the state government’s challenge.