Date:29/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/29/stories/2008082960750900.htm

Tamil Nadu

High Court sets aside appointments

K.T. Sangameswaran

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has set aside the appointment of 10 persons as Assistant Engineers in the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

Seen from any angle, the contention of counsel for the Board and counsel for the 10 persons to sustain the appointments by relying upon a Government Order issued in March 2007 was impermissible, the First Bench of Chief Justice A.K.Ganguly and Justice F.M.Ibrahim Kalifulla said in its common judgment, allowing two writ appeals.

The case was that the Board called for sponsorship of candidates from the employment exchange for recruitment as per the communal roster in the ratio of 1:20 (20 names against one vacancy) for filling 25 posts of Assistant Engineer. The employment exchange sent a list of 501 candidates, and 256 took the written test. The list was sought as per Regulation 10 of the TNPCB Service Regulations. As per the procedure, the written test would be followed by an interview.

After the written test, held on March 11 last year, and before the answer sheets were evaluated and the date of interview was to be notified, the Labour and Employment Department issued an order, dated March 30, 2007, prescribing a revised ratio of 1:1. The Board called for a fresh sponsorship from the employment exchange by restricting the ratio to 1:1 and appointed 10 Assistant Engineers.

Challenging the appointments, petitions were filed. A single judge dismissed them. The Bench said it was well settled that once the selection process commenced, whatever the rules and regulations that were in effect alone would rule the field. It was impermissible to introduce any change in the rules or apply a different prescription for the selection.

Allowing the petitions and the appeals, the Bench directed the Board to proceed with the selection from the stage where it left after the written test and finalise the selection as per the procedure prescribed in Regulation 10 and other provisions relating to the appointment.