Report on SC Status for Dalit Christians and Muslims Ready for Submission

June 12, 2026: The Justice (Retd.) K.G. Balakrishnan Commission, which has been examining the issue of Scheduled Caste status for Dalit converts, has completed its study and prepared the report assigned to it nearly four years ago, The Hindu has learnt.

The three-member Commission of Inquiry was set up by the Union government in October 2022, at a time when the Supreme Court was preparing to resume hearings on a batch of petitions seeking SC status for Dalit Muslims and Christians. The matter has remained pending before the apex court for the past 20 years.

The Commission was mandated to examine whether SC status could be extended to Dalits who have converted to any religion other than those recognised under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950. At present, only Dalits belonging to the Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh faiths are eligible for SC classification, unlike Scheduled Tribe status, which carries no religious restriction.

Multiple extensions

Almost four years after the Commission was constituted, officials familiar with the matter said that the report has been prepared and is presently being formatted in a “book format” for official submission. One official stated that the Commission is expected to submit its report “in a few days”.

The Commission was originally given a two-year timeframe to complete its work and submit its findings to the government. Since 2024, it has received several extensions, the most recent being in April this year, when the deadline was extended to June 10, 2026. Gazette records do not indicate that any further extension has been granted to the Commission.

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Pending case

According to the government, the Commission’s study was intended to examine the demand for SC status for Dalit converts, the objections raised against the demand and its effect on existing SC communities, as well as the extent and nature of discrimination faced by Dalit communities after converting to other faiths.

While a batch of petitions concerning the constitutional question of whether Dalit Christians and Muslims should be granted SC status remains pending before the Supreme Court, the apex court recently ruled, in the case of a Christian pastor from Andhra Pradesh, that the religious restriction attached to SC classification was “absolute”.

Significantly, the Union Ministry of Social Justice has made several submissions before the Supreme Court in these cases, arguing that SC status should not be extended to individuals who have converted to religions such as Islam and Christianity, citing the foreign origins of these faiths, while maintaining that the religions currently included are Indic in nature.

Courtesy: The Hindu