Should people of the scheduled castes continue to retain their right to reservations even after they convert to casteless Christianity?

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre on a petition raising this issue.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice G P Mathur issued the notice after briefly hearing Prashant Bhushan, the counsel for Centre for Public Interest Litigation.

The final hearing has been posted for August.

The court had on February 11 brushed aside the Centre's stand opposing court's intervention in the matter stating it was the sole prerogative of Parliament to determine which communities were to be included in the SC list.

"It is a matter of policy and legislation and the courts should keep out of it," Attorney General Milon Banerjee had said during the last hearing.

However, on Monday he requested the court to issue a formal notice to the Centre so that a response could be filed.

Bhushan said when reservation benefits were available to Dalits following Hinduism, Buddhism or Sikhism, there was no reason why Dalit Christians be not given similar benefit.

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