India, July 1 -- The Madras high court last week quashed a Tamil Nadu government order that allowed people from backward classes (BC), most backward classes (MBC), denotified communities (DNC) and scheduled castes (SC) who converted to Islam to continue being availing reservation benefits.

In doing so, the court reaffirmed a legal principle laid down by the Madras High Court more than seven decades ago - that conversion to Islam changes a person's religion, but it "does not automatically make the person a member of one of the state's recognised Backward Class Muslim communities (BCM)".

The judgment, passed on June 25 by Justices GR Swaminathan and PB Balaji, held that the executive cannot override binding judicial precedent through an e...