'Children Can Claim Caste-Based Reservation Through Mother’s Lineage': Madras High Court
Puducherry, September 1, 2026: The Madras High Court has rejected the Puducherry Government’s stand that a child’s caste origin for issuing a community certificate can be determined only through the father’s nativity. The court held that children can claim reservation benefits through their mother’s caste status if they were brought up in that community and faced the same social disadvantages.…
The Madras High Court has ruled that children can claim caste-based reservation benefits through their mother's lineage, rejecting the Puducherry Government's previous stance. Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy emphasized that reservation is based on social disadvantage, stigma, and hardships, not on whether the caste identity is traced through the father or mother.
The court dismissed the government's patriarchal argument, stating that equality guarantees under the Constitution supersede such outdated beliefs. The court's decision overturns the notion that lineage can only be traced through the father, particularly challenging the traditional belief that "vamsam" or lineage must be patriarchal.
It also invalidated the government's claim that caste status is inherited from the father in the absence of statutory law, clarifying that single mothers or widowed mothers can also have their children recognized as Scheduled Caste (SC), Most Backward Class (MBC), or Other Backward Class (OBC). The court mandated the issuance of community certificates to the petitioners based on their mothers' native residency, granting them reservation benefits in education and employment under the Union Territory administration.
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