SC stays Madras HC’s decision to halt T.N. govt. recruitment process to fill 2,569 vacancies

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Madras High Court order, which completely halted a recruitment process to fill 2,569 vacancies in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department (MAWS), spelling relief for the Tamil Nadu government.

The interim order of the High Court on April 3 had brought to a grinding stop a recruitment process that was nearly complete.

“The process of recruitment was virtually complete with only the fiinal appointment letters to be issued to selected candidates... The process itself had seen the participation of 2,00,499 candidates,” said the Tamil Nadu government in a submission before a Bench headed by Justice Manoj Misra.

The High Court decision was based on the ground that Tamil Nadu had failed to select four candidates under the Person Studying in Tamil Medium (PSTM) quota. Appearing for the State, senior advocate P. Wilson and advocate Purnima Krishna said the High Court ordered the stay at the eleventh hour, though the issue raised by the four candidates was limited to the grant of 20% reservation to candidates who had studied in the Tamil medium in private/polytechnic colleges. “What was the justification in freezing the entire process involving 2569 vacancies when only four candidates had approached the High Court?” Mr. Wilson asked.

Issuing notice, the Bench put on hold the “effect and operation” of the April 3 stay order, while clarifying that the State must not make any final selection as against four vacancies/posts.

The State’s petition said the vacancies notified had represented 40% of the sanctioned posts in the MAWS Department. “The interim order staying recruitment to such a large number of vacancies came to be passed in a writ appeal filed by four unsuccessful candidates who were claiming the reservation earmarked for ‘Persons, who Studied under Tamil Medium’ has not only caused heartburn among selected candidates but is also directly affecting governance of the State with several critical field posts in the civic administration being unfilled,” the petition submitted. It argued that the candidates had applied against the PSTM category for posts under the ‘Diploma Standard Technical’ category. “Since they could not produce PSTM certificates for the course, they were treated as non-PSTM,” it said.

Besides, the State said Tamil as a medium of instruction was introduced in diploma courses only from the academic year 2022-2023. Till 2022, there were no recognised textbooks in Tamil for diploma courses. Only in 2020 did AICTE undertake the translation of engineering textbooks into 12 scheduled Indian languages. The Tamil Nadu government initiated the translation of 21 standard Engineering and Technology books only from the academic year 2021-2022.

“In light of the above, it is unsurprising that candidates who completed their diplomas prior to 2022 could not obtain PSTM certificates saying that they received instructions in Tamil,” the petition alleged.