The government of Tamil Nadu has initiated legal proceedings before the Supreme Court to contest a Madras High Court ruling that invalidated a government order regarding reservation benefits for converts to Islam.

泰米爾納德邦政府已在最高法院採取法律行動，以對抗馬德拉斯高等法院一項撤銷政府關於改信伊斯蘭教者預留福利指令的裁定。

The legal contention centers on a government order issued on March 9, 2024, which sought to permit individuals from Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, and Denotified Communities to maintain their reservation eligibility upon conversion to Islam by classifying them as Backward Class Muslims (BCM). This administrative measure aimed to facilitate the issuance of community certificates for seven specific notified BCM groups, including the Ansar, Dekkani Muslims, and Labbais, among others.

此法律爭議的核心在於 2024 年 3 月 9 日發布的一項政府指令，該指令旨在允許原屬表列種姓、落後階級、極落後階級及去標籤化社區的人士，在改信伊斯蘭教後，透過將其歸類為落後階級穆斯林 (BCM) 以保留其預留資格。此行政措施旨在方便為七個特定的通告 BCM 群體（包括 Ansar、Dekkani 穆斯林和 Labbais 等）核發社區證明。

However, a division bench of the Madras High Court declared this executive action unconstitutional. The judiciary's rationale was predicated on the assertion that executive orders cannot supersede binding judicial precedents. Specifically, the court referenced a 1951 precedent establishing that conversion to Islam renders an individual a 'Muslim' in a general sense, but does not grant membership to birth-based communities. The court posited that because the seven notified BCM categories are determined by lineage rather than faith, the acquisition of such status via conversion is conceptually unsustainable.

然而，馬德拉斯高等法院的一個分庭宣布此行政行動違憲。法院的理由是行政指令不能凌駕於具有約束力的司法判例。具體而言，法院引用了 1951 年的一項判例，認定改信伊斯蘭教使個人在一般意義上成為「穆斯林」，但並不賦予其基於出生之社區的成員資格。法院認為，由於七個通告的 BCM 類別是由血統而非信仰決定，因此透過改信獲取此類身份在概念上是不成立的。

This judicial review was precipitated by a petition from Sameer Ahamed, who sought a 'Muslim Labbai' certificate following his 2015 conversion from Hinduism. Although the state had issued the 2024 order during the pendency of Ahamed's litigation, the High Court dismissed his plea and struck down the underlying government order. Consequently, the state government has filed a special leave petition, which is currently undergoing registry scrutiny prior to its listing before the Supreme Court.

此次司法審查是由 Sameer Ahamed 的請願所觸發，他在 2015 年由印度教改信後，申請「穆斯林 Labbai」證明。儘管州政府在 Ahamed 訴訟期間發布了 2024 年的指令，但高等法院仍駁回了其請求並撤銷了該政府指令。因此，州政府已提交特別許可請願書，目前在提交至最高法院之前正接受登記審查。

The matter currently awaits a hearing in the Supreme Court to determine the validity of the state's attempt to extend reservation benefits to converts.

此案目前等待最高法院聆訊，以決定州政府將預留福利擴展至改信者的做法是否合法。