Commission constituted under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan to investigate the status of SC to Dalit converts
The Center, through a notification dated 06 October, 2022, appointed former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, to inquire into the issue of granting Scheduled Caste (SC) status to new persons who historically claimed to belong to the Scheduled Castes, but converted to religions other than those specified in the Presidential Orders under Article 341 of the Constitution.
Scheduled Caste status is available only to persons following Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions as per Presidential orders. The notification has highlighted that while some groups have raised questions about revisiting the existing definitions of Scheduled Castes and have petitioned for new persons, who are related to other religions apart from what is permitted through Presidential orders, they are to be added to the definitions. Many other groups have opposed it.
Some representatives of the existing Scheduled Castes have objected to the grant of Scheduled Caste status to the new persons because of its negative impact on the members of the existing Scheduled Castes. Terming the issue as a fundamentally and historically complex social and constitutional question, the notification has treated it as a matter of public importance.
