DH Deciphers | Religion and the legal maze of reservations for converts

For the upcoming Social and Educational Survey in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wants Hindu converts to Christianity to identify themselves by their faith instead of their caste names. Sumit Pande explores the relation between religion and reservations to explain whether the policy of affirmative action applies to the Hindu castes who have converted to other religions.

What is the statutory basis for Schedule Caste reservations?

SC reservations are based on Article 341 of the Constitution, which empowers the President to notify a caste as a Scheduled Caste. In exercise of the power vested under the Article, the President issued an order in 1951, called the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, to create a schedule or a list of castes to be deemed as Scheduled Castes. Only Parliament is empowered to make changes in the Scheduled Caste list. The benchmark test for the inclusion of a community in the list is extreme social, educational and economic backwardness resulting from the traditional practice of untouchability.

What is the statutory basis for inclusion in the Schedule Tribe reservations?

ST reservations emanate from Article 342, which empowers the President to notify a particular community as a Scheduled Tribe. The President's 1951 order created a schedule of communities to be deemed as Scheduled Tribes. The benchmark test for inclusion is primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large and backwardness.

How do Articles 341 and 342 differ in offering reservations to citizens who convert to other religions?

An individual belonging to the Scheduled Tribes professing any religion is entitled to affirmative action. But Article 342 carries a disclaimer that SC reservations are reserved for Hindus, Sikhs (included in 1956) or Buddhists (in 1990). In other words, anyone who converts to Islam or Christianity is not entitled to SC quotas, even if that person belongs to a caste (before conversion) that is in the SC list.

Are Dalit Muslims and Christians not entitled to reservations?

Scheduled Castes converted to Christianity or Islam are included in the Backward Classes lists of some states and are entitled to reservation benefits under such category. So, Dalit Christians and Muslims can get reservations under the OBC category, if the states so desire. The issue of extension of Scheduled Caste status to Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity and Islam is presently before the Supreme Court. In another matter last year, the top court did not recognise the SC status of a woman from Tamil Nadu after it was established that her family had converted to Christianity.

What is the status of the Supreme Court case seeking to maintain the Scheduled Caste status after a change of faith?

The petitioners in Ghazi Saaduddin v State of Maharashtra pleaded that the Schedule Caste list be made religion-agnostic. They backed their contention with the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission set up by the UPA government in 2007, which maintained that willful change of religion should not affect a person's Schedule Caste status. The Narendra Modi government has informed the apex court that the recommendations were not accepted by the Union. In 2022, the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry set up another three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of India Justice KG Balakrishnan, which is yet to submit its report. The matter remains pending before the apex court.

Do religious converts from other backward classes get reservations?

Under Article 16(4), OBC reservations can be extended by state governments to any group or community not adequately represented in state services, and whose backwardness is objectively established. In the Indra Sawhney v Union of India (1992) judgment, the nine-member Constitution bench that upheld OBC reservations said that “no class of citizens can be classified as backward solely by reason of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them”.