Madras High Court

The Madras High Court passed a verdict on 25th June this year, criticising the government order allowing converts to Islam to claim BC status. The court reprimanded the Tamil Nadu government for passing the order with the intention of overriding the judicial precedents and, in effect, incentivising conversion to Islam.

The High Court said that when a person converts to Islam, he becomes a Muslim, and his place in Muslim society is not determined by the caste to which he belonged before his conversion.

"The proposed church would come up within a stone’s throw from the existing Mariyamman Temple. There are only a handful of Christian families. If a large church is proposed to be constructed in the vicinity of the Mariyamman Temple, mala fide intentions cannot be ruled out," the court observed.

The court said survey, notification and legal proof of dedication are mandatory before treating a property as Waqf, and held that the Board cannot assume automatic control over a Muslim religious institution.