Chennai: The First Bench of the Madras high court has recused from hearing a Public Interest Litigation, which sought a direction to the state government to include Brahmins as a community in the list of communities of the state and consequently direct the authorities concerned to issue certificates to persons from such community.
When the PIL filed by advocate V.Arunagiri came up for hearing, the First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose said it would refer the matter to an appropriate division bench.
According to petitioner, many of his friends belonging to Brahmin community had informed him that they were not provided with a community certificate as given to other communities by the state government. On his RTI query, he received a reply from the revenue department that as per the government notification, Brahmins were not classified as any community and hence, the question of issuing community certificate to Brahmins does not arise, he added. He contended that Brahmins were also entitled to get community certificates.
The decision of the state government was discriminatory and illegal. Neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh was providing community certificates to all communities including Brahmins, he pointed out.
