A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the government to include the Brahmins in the list of communities in the state and issue community certificates to them.

When the PIL filed by advocate V Arunagiri came up for hearing yesterday, the first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose directed the registry to post it before the bench headed by Justice Hulivadi G Ramesh on March 5.

The petitioner submitted that neighbouring states such as Andhra Pradesh were issuing community certificates to the Brahmins.

When community certificates were given by authorities to other communities, why are they not being issued in the case of the Brahmin community, he asked.

He submitted that the Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, had in an RTI reply said the Brahmins were not classified as community according to a government notification and hence, the issue of community certificates to them does not arise.

The petitioner said the act of the government declining to give community certificates to the Brahmins was "illegal and against the law of the land".

It also affected the fundamental right of equality guaranteed under the Constitution, he said.

He sought a direction to authorities to include the Brahmins in the list of communities in the state and issue community certificates to them.