Govt. to restrict service candidates from availing preferential appointment

The Tamil Nadu government has decided to restrict persons appointed to civil service under the Tamil Nadu Persons Studying in Tamil Medium (PSTM) Act, 2010, from availing this preference if they have already availed it.

They will be allowed to compete for such preferential vacancies only in higher-paying roles. Minister for Human Resource Management N. Kayalvizhi Selvaraj introduced a bill in Parliament on Friday seeking amendments to the Act.

The Act reserves 20% of all vacancies for direct recruitment in Tamil Nadu services as preferential appointment vacancies for persons educated in the Tamil medium.

It was the government’s intention that the aid should be extended to persons studying in Tamil, rather than restricting it to persons not serving in the State.

The state government gives priority to persons educated in Tamil for appointments in services through all direct recruitment, irrespective of whether the candidate has worked in government service before or not.

However, the Madras High Court, interpreting the definition of the term ‘direct recruitment’ in Section 2(a) of the Act, held that persons already in public service are not entitled to preferential appointment under the Act.

“Therefore, it has been decided to amend clause (a) of Article 2 of the Law in order to clarify the intention and verify the notifications already made, as well as selections or appointments made by recruitment agencies or appointment authorities from 7 September 2010 (i.e. the date of entry into force of the said Law)…”

The bill further stated: “The government has decided that henceforth, persons appointed to the civil service who benefit from such preference will be allowed to compete for such preferential vacancies only in positions requiring higher levels of remuneration”. The bill is expected to be discussed in the Parliament on January 24.