India, June 26 -- The Madras high court has struck down a Tamil Nadu government order that allowed persons from Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC), Denotified Communities (DNC) and Scheduled Castes (SC) who converted to Islam to continue availing reservation benefits under the Backward Class Muslim (BCM) category, holding the order to be unconstitutional.

In an order passed on Thursday, a division bench of justices GR Swaminathan and PB Balaji ruled that the government order issued by the then Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government on March 9, 2024, could not override settled judicial precedents. The court held that a person who converts to Islam becomes "just a Muslim" and cannot claim membership of any of the State'...