Buddhism casteless, Madras HC denies convert’s claim for Buddhist Adi Dravidar caste certificate

The absence of statutory recognition for a “Buddhist Adi Dravidar” community and the general renouncement of caste in Buddhism recently led the Madras High Court to deny a Buddhist convert’s claim for a Adi Dravidar caste certificate..The Bench of Justices R Subbiah and R Pongiappan passed the order in a writ petition filed by a man born to Christian converts as Victor Joseph J. However, the petitioner’s grandparents followed Hinduism and were part of the Adi Dravidar community..In 2015, the petitioner converted from Christianity to Buddhism, and also changed his name to GJ Tamilarasu. Thereafter, he applied for a caste certificate as belonging to the Buddhist Adi Dravidar Community..This application was rejected by the Tashildar, and thereafter by the Revenue Divisional Officer and the District Collector, prompting Tamilarasu to move the High Court with his plea for the issuance of the Adi Dravidar community certificate..However, the Court also declined to grant any relief after it concluded that there was no statutory or religious backing for Tamilarasu’s claim to membership in the Adi Dravidar community..Tamilarasu had cited a 2009 Government Order (GO) to buttress his case that he is entitled to recognition as an Adi Dravidar community member upon conversion, if he is accepted by the community..The GO in question states,.“The children born to Christian Schedule Caste parents i.e., Christian by birth, converted to Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism at a later date and the Scheduled Caste parents embracing Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism converted to other religion and subsequently reconverted Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism, if they are accepted by their community people, the Revenue Authorities can issue Scheduled Caste community certificate to them to become eligible for the constitutional privileges conformed on the Hindu Scheduled Caste (following Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism) and order accordingly.“.This GO was issued after the Madras High Court in 2007 struck down an earlier order which denied recognition to Adi Dravidar Christian converts, even if they re-converted to Hinduism at a later point of time..In the instant case, the Court found that the 2009 GO only provides that recognition can be claimed by persons who re-convert back to the religion originally followed by their ancestors who were part of the Adi Dravidar community..In other words, the Bench appears to have taken the view that Tamilarasu would have been entitled to get an Adi Dravidar community certificate had he re-converted to Hinduism, as followed by his Adi Dravidar grandparents..“In the instant case, originally the petitioner’s family was professing Hinduism, then they converted to Christianity and the petitioner in particular, got converted to third religion, namely Buddhism. Therefore, he is skipping from one religion to another, which will not give the benefit of claiming the status of Buddhist Adi Dravidar by issuance of Community Certificate.“.Further, the Bench also emphasised on the casteless nature of Buddhism to support its conclusion that Tamilarasu could not be granted a Buddhist Adi Dravidar community certificate..“Moreover, it is to be noted that the acceptance of the people of a respective Caste/Community can be ascertained only from the sense of reaction of the Community and the point of view which the Community holds, has its own significance and it eliminates the factor of acceptance arising out of ceremonies. .Buddhism never appreciates the factum of ‘caste’ in its ideologies and preaching, and this is the reason behind Buddhism that has its own significance. When this being the factor, the petitioner’s claim of conversion to Buddhism, is of little significance. That being the case, the question of issuing Community Certificate indicating the Community/Caste as ‘Buddhist Adi Dravidar’ does not arise.”.Ultimately, it was also pointed out that there is no provision in the statutory schedule for “Buddhist Adi Dravidars”.“… there is no entry as ‘Buddhist Adi Dravidar’ in the Presidential Order issued in accordance with the procedures prescribed under Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution of India. In the absence of any Notification by the Government of India, listing ‘Buddhist Adi Dravidar’ as a Caste in the Schedule, no such Community Certificate could be issued. .The Community Certificates could be issued only in the name of the communities, which are mentioned in the Presidential Order issued under Article 341 of the Constitution of India and it is only ‘Adi Dravidar’ community which has been mentioned in the list of Scheduled Castes relating to the State of Tamil Nadu. Moreover, there is no category with the nomenclature ‘Buddhist Adi Dravidar’.“.In view of these observations, the writ petition was dismissed by the Bench..Read the Order: