New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday issued notice to the Centre on a plea seeking extension of scheduled caste reservation to dalits who had converted to Christianity and continued to suffer social discrimination.

Issuing notice on the plea by the National Council of Dalit Christians seeking extension of scheduled caste reservation to dalit Christians, Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, heading a three-Judge bench, said that the issue being raised would also extend to other religious communities including Muslims.

While issuing notice and tagging the matter with similar pending petitions, the court said that it would need to hear the others as well.

Senior counsel P.S. Narasimha, appearing for a dalit petitioner who wanted to convert to Christianity while retaining the benefits of reservation, told the court that an earlier judgment of the top court said that the benefits of reservation were limited to dalits within the Hindu fold and did not extend to those who had converted to other religions that abhorred the caste system. A lawyer appearing for the National Council of Dalit Christians said that the matter was pending before the court for a long time and that dalit Christians were languishing for the last 15 years.

He said that mere conversion to Christianity did not erase the social disadvantages that the society inflicted on dalits. He urged the court to hear the mater.