Madras High Court
The Principal Secretary vs K.Mahadevi on 26 April, 2023
W.A.No.970 of 2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 26.04.2023
CORAM :
THE HON'BLE JUSTICE S.VAIDYANATHAN
AND
THE HON'BLE MRS.JUSTICE R.KALAIMATHI
W.A.No.970 of 2023
1.The Principal Secretary,
Teachers Recruitment Board,
College Road,
Chennai – 600 006.
2.The Director,
Teachers Recruitment Board,
College Road,
Chennai – 600 006.
3.The Member Secretary,
Teachers Recruitment Board,
College Road,
Chennai – 600 006. .. Appellants
Vs
1.K.Mahadevi
2.The Joint Secretary,
Department of School Education,
Secretariat, Chennai-600 009. .. Respondents
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
Prayer: Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the order
dated 08.09.2022 passed by the learned Single Judge in
W.P.No.44215 of 2016.
For the Appellants : Mr.Neelakandan
Addl. Advocate General
assisted by
Mr.K.Sathish Kumar
For the Respondents : Mr.V.T.Narendiran
Mr.A.P.Rajaprabhu
for respondent No.1
: Mr.P.Muthukumar
State Government Pleader
for respondent No.2
JUDGMENT
(Delivered by S.Vaidyanathan, J.)
Questioning the correctness of the order passed by the third
appellant/Member Secretary, Teacher's Recruitment Board in
Na.Ka.No.705/A3/2016, dated 27.10.2016, a writ petition was filed
by the first respondent/writ petitioner seeking a consequential
direction to appoint her as a PG Assistant Grade-I for the year
2013-2014 and 2014-2015 in the reserved category of Scheduled
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
Tribe.
2. The first respondent/writ petitioner participated in the
recruitment process pursuant to the notification issued and she was
successful in the written examination and attended the viva-voce on
17.12.2015. The first respondent/writ petitioner has produced all
the certificates which have been duly verified by the appellants and
that the first respondent/writ petitioner was asked to produce a
copy of the Tamil Medium certificate for the course in the Master's
Degree pursued by her. Even though all other certificates were
produced, the M.A. Degree certificate alone was not produced by
her on the same day, but on the very next day.
3. The appellants herein contended that the Tamil medium
certificate was produced after the result was published and that the
certificates required ought to have been produced by the first
respondent/writ petitioner on the day when the certificate
verification was done and inasmuch as the first respondent/writ
petitioner did not produce the Tamil medium certificate for PG
Degree on the date of certificate verification, her name was not
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
considered.
4. The learned Single Judge after hearing the arguments and
taking note of the fact that the post in which the first
respondent/writ petitioner was selected was treated as backlog
vacancy for Scheduled Caste Women Tamil medium, held that she
is entitled to be appointed and that the selection of the first
respondent/writ petitioner was right and the benefit of appointment
cannot be denied on the ground that she has not produced the M.A.
Degree Tamil medium certificate.
5. It is not that the first respondent/writ petitioner has not
produced any certificate. The fact that the first respondent/writ
petitioner has studied M.A. Degree was accepted by the appellants,
but the Tamil medium certificate alone was not produced by her on
17.02.2015. The learned Single Judge held that the selecting
authority ought not to have rejected the case of the downtrodden
woman who has studied M.A. Degree in Tamil medium on that score
alone.
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
6. It has been brought to our attention that some other
candidates, who have produced degree certificates after selection
was over, were accommodated and the first respondent/writ
petitioner alone was not considered. When the first respondent/writ
petitioner has studied M.A. Degree in Tamil medium and the said
factum of study has been accepted by the appellants, the non-
production of the certificate on the very same day cannot be a
ground to deprive the Scheduled Tribe woman an opportunity of
employment which she earned under challenging circumstances.
7. Even though learned Additional Advocate General appearing
for the appellants submitted that the backlog vacancy was carried
forward to the subsequent year and the same was filled up, we are
of the view that non-availability of vacancy cannot be a ground to
deprive the first respondent/writ petitioner to be accommodated to
the post of P.G. Assistant (History).
8. Article 38 of the Constitution of India prescribes that the
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing
and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which
justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions
of the national life. The clause (2) of Article 38 of the Constitution of
India minimizes the inequalities in income and endeavour to
eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities only
amongst individuals but also amongst ‘groups of people’ residing in
different areas or engaged in different vocations. The ‘groups of
people’ means SC/ST specified in the Constitution. That apart, the
economic empowerment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,
as enjoined under Article 46, is a constitutional objective. The State
is bound to promote with special care the economic interests of the
weaker sections of the people belonging to Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and protect them social injustice and all forms of
exploitation. However, in the case on hand, instead of protecting
and caring for the economic interest of a candidate belonging to
such weaker section, the authorities have taken a pedantic view
sticking to technicalities. When a person belonging to such group,
after facing ordeals, secures the required qualification and stands
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
qualified for the post, rejection of her candidature on the sole
ground that there was one day's delay in furnishing a certificate is
uncalled for.
9. We have also considered the vital fact that the first
respondent/writ petitioner is aged around 50 years now and is over-
aged for any selection hereinafter and it is also not known when the
Government is going to notify the vacancies next. The non-
consideration of her candidature on technical reasons is uncalled for
in view of the constitutional mandate, supra.
10. For the foregoing reasons, the order passed by the
learned Single Judge does not warrant any interference. The
appellants are directed to appoint the first respondent/writ
petitioner to the post of P.G. Assistant (History) in any of the
existing vacancies. If there is no vacancy as on date, the appellants
shall create a post and appoint the first respondent/writ petitioner
in due compliance of the direction aforesaid. In any event, the
appellants are expected to appoint the first respondent/writ
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
petitioner before the commencement of the next academic year
2023-2024 and report compliance on 15.06.2023. There will be no
order as to costs. Consequently, C.M.P.No.9635 of 2023 is closed.
List this appeal for reporting compliance on 15.06.2023.
(S.V.N., J.) (R.K.M., J.)
26.04.2023
Index : Yes/No
Neutral Citation : Yes/No
bbr
To:
The Joint Secretary,
Department of School Education,
Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
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W.A.No.970 of 2023
S.VAIDYANATHAN, J.
AND
R.KALAIMATHI, J.
bbr
W.A.No.970 of 2023
26.04.2023
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