Reservation -- Conversion from Hindu Social Order to Islam -- Pre-conversion social backwardness cannot be carried forward
(i) Constitution of India, 1950, Art.16(4) -- Reservation -- Conversion from Hindu Social Order to Islam -- Entitlement to affirmative action founded on social backwardness within the Hindu social order rests upon disabilities produced by that social structure -- Upon conversion to a non-Hindu social order where caste is not recognised as the basis of social status, such foundational basis ceases to operate -- Continuing material disadvantage does not carry the antecedent social backwardness into the new religion. (ii) Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, Para 3 -- Scheduled Caste Status -- Conversion to Islam -- Conversion to a religion outside Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism results in immediate loss or eclipse of Scheduled Caste status -- Such status cannot be revived or altered by executive order. (iii) Constitution of India, 1950, Art.15(4), Art.16(4) -- Backward Class Status -- Conversion to Notified Muslim Community -- A person converting to Islam ceases to be a member of any caste and becomes part of the Muslim community generally, without his place therein being determined by his pre-conversion caste -- Conversion does not confer automatic membership of a specific, notified Backward Class Muslim community defined by ancestry and endogamy -- Legal consequence of conversion cannot simultaneously extinguish the old caste and transport the person into a different community for reservation purposes. (iv) Constitution of India, 1950, Art.14 -- Caste Certificate -- Determination of Community Status by Private Religious Body -- Issuing a statutory caste or community certificate is an accountable public function -- Authority to conclusively determine community status for purposes of statutory reservation cannot be vested in a private religious body.
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