The Balakrishnan Commission Inquiry: SC Status for Dalit Converts (2022–2026)

The Balakrishnan Commission of Inquiry, formally constituted on October 6, 2022, was established by the Government of India to examine a constitutionally complex and socially sensitive question: whether Scheduled Caste (SC) status should be extended to Dalits who have converted to religions other than Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism—specifically to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.

The three-member commission is chaired by Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, former Chief Justice of India, alongside retired IAS officer Dr. Ravinder Kumar Jain and Professor Sushma Yadav of the University Grants Commission. The commission was formed following Supreme Court hearings in which the Solicitor General committed to examining the government's position on extending SC reservations to Dalit converts.

The commission's mandate is extensive: it examines whether historical discrimination and social deprivation experienced by Dalits continue post-conversion; investigates how caste-based customs, traditions, and social disabilities affect these converted communities; and assesses the constitutional, legal, and policy implications of extending SC status to these populations. The inquiry responds to decades of recommendations from prior commissions—the Ranganath Misra Commission (2007) and the Sachar Committee (2006)—which documented that caste discrimination persists within Christian and Muslim communities, yet the government has not acted on these findings.

The legal context centers on the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950, Paragraph 3, which restricts SC status to those professing Hindu, Sikh, or Buddhist faith. This was amended in 1956 to include Sikhs and in 1990 to include Buddhists, but Christians and Muslims remain excluded despite evidence of persistent discrimination. The current law creates an anomaly where conversion to a religion outside these three faiths results in immediate loss of SC status and its protections under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Originally given a two-year deadline to complete its work by October 2024, the commission has received multiple extensions—first to October 2025, and most recently to June 30, 2026—reflecting the complexity of the inquiry and the extensive field consultations required to gather socio-economic data across India's Dalit Christian and Dalit Muslim communities.