Actor R. Parthiban has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to pass a legislation or issue a Government Order (G.O.)/circular instructing Revenue Department officials to issue ‘no caste, no religion’ certificates to those who voluntarily relinquish religious and caste identities.

His plea has been listed for hearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan on Monday (August 3, 2026). The petitioner complained that Revenue Department officials were hesitant to issue such certificates due to a lack of clear-cut instructions from the government.

What is the case about?

In March 2026, a controversy had erupted after the actor introduced himself as a ‘Naidu boy’ during the promotions of a Telugu movie, Ustaad Bhagath Singh. Thereafter, he expressed regret for his remark and filed an application before the Sholinganallur Tahsildar seeking a ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate.

The petitioner claimed that he had renounced his religious and caste identities and filed a notarised affidavit to that effect. However, when the Revenue Department officials did not respond to his request positively, he filed a writ petition before the High Court seeking a direction to them to dispose of his application at the earliest.

Justice M. Dhandapani disposed of the writ petition on April 20, 2026, by directing the Tahsildar to issue the certificate to the petitioner on or before April 29, 2026. The direction was issued on the strength of a similar order passed by a Division Bench of the High Court in another case on June 10, 2025.

Pursuant to the order, Mr. Parthiban’s case was listed for reporting compliance on April 29, 2026, when the court was informed that the ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate was issued to the petitioner as per the court’s orders. After recalling those events, the actor, in his present PIL plea, empasised the need to make the process of obtaining such certificates much easier.

He said that the government should either pass a legislation or issue a G.O./circular instructing Revenue Department officials to issue such certificates, within a reasonable time, to those who voluntarily relinguish their religious and caste identities for all purposes, including education and employment.

Published - August 01, 2026 03:02 pm IST