Madras High Court

C.Selvakumar vs The State Of Tamil Nadu on 5 June, 2025

Author: S.M.Subramaniam

Bench: S.M.Subramaniam

                                                                        W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019



                                  BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT

                                                    DATED : 05.06.2025

                                                              CORAM:

                                    THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM
                                                       and
                                     THE HONOURABLE DR.JUSTICE A.D.MARIA CLETE


                                       W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019
                                                          and
                                     C.M.P.(MD) Nos.468, 2558, 2559 & 9828 of 2019


                 W.A.(MD) No.84 of 2019:

                 C.Selvakumar                                                                  ... Appellant

                                                                  -vs-


                 1.The State of Tamil Nadu
                   represented by its
                     Secretary to Government
                   School Education Department
                   Secretariat
                   Fort St.George, Chennai-600 009

                 2.The Chairman
                   Teachers' Recruitment Board
                   4th Floor, E.V.K.Sampath Building
                   DPI Campus
                   College Road
                   Chennai-600 006




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                                                                           W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019



                 3.The Director of School Education
                   DPI Campus, College Road
                   Chennai-600 006

                 4.The Director
                   Department of Technical Education
                   Chennai

                 5.The Director of Government Examinations
                   Education Department, Chennai                                                  ... Respondents
                   [R4 is suo motu impleaded as per the
                   Court order dated 25.06.2024 and R5 is
                   suo motu impleaded as per the Court
                   order dated 20.08.2024]

                           Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent to set aside the

                 order, dated 04.12.2018, passed in W.P.(MD) No.21878 of 2018, on the file of

                 this Court.

                                  For Appellant      : Mr.K.Suresh

                                  For Respondents : Mr.J.Ashok
                                                    Additional Government Pleader for R1, R3 to R5
                                                    Mr.T.Amjad Khan
                                                    Standing Counsel for R2


                 W.A.(MD) No.325 of 2019:

                 V.Jeyanthi                                                                       ... Appellant
                                                                     -vs-

                 1.The Government of Tamil Nadu
                   represented by Secretary
                   Education Department
                   Secretariat, Chennai

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                                                                           W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019




                 2.The Teachers Recruitment Board
                   rep.by its Chair Person
                   E.V.K.Sampath Maaligai
                   DPI Compound, College Road
                   Chennai-6

                 3.The Member Secretary
                   The Teachers Recruitment Board
                   E.V.K.Sampath Maaligai
                   DPI Compound, College Road
                   Chennai-6

                 4.The Director
                   Department of Government
                     Technical Education
                   Chennai

                 5.The Director of Government Examinations
                   Education Department
                   Chennai                                                                        ... Respondents
                   [R5 is suo motu impleaded as per the
                   Court order dated 20.08.2024]


                           Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent to set aside the

                 order, dated 04.12.2018, passed in W.P.(MD) No.23061 of 2018, on the file of

                 this Court.


                                  For Appellant      : Mr.G.Mohankumar

                                  For Respondents : Mr.J.Ashok
                                                    Additional Government Pleader for R1, R4 & R5
                                                    Mr.T.Amjad Khan
                                                    Standing Counsel for R2 & R3

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                                                                           W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019




                 W.A.(MD) No.457 of 2019:

                 V.Parthasarathi                                                                  ... Appellant

                                                                     -vs-

                 1.The Teachers Recruitment Board
                   rep.by its Chairman
                   College Road, Chennai-600 006

                 2.The Director of School Education
                   College Road, Chennai-600 006

                 3.S.Rajesh

                 4.M.Veeramani

                 5.V.Vinothkumar

                 6.The Director of Government Examinations
                   Education Department, Chennai                                                  ... Respondents
                   [R6 is suo motu impleaded as per the
                   Court order dated 20.08.2024]

                           Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent to set aside the

                 order, dated 04.12.2018, passed in W.P.(MD) No.21631 of 2018, on the file of

                 this Court.

                                  For Appellant      : Mr.V.Panneer Selvam

                                  For Respondents : Mr.T.Amjad Khan
                                                    Standing Counsel for R1
                                                    Mr.J.Ashok
                                                    Additional Government Pleader for R2 & R6
                                                    R3 to R5 – Not ready notice

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                                                                           W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019



                 W.A.(MD) No.1093 of 2019:

                 K.Moorthy                                                                        ... Appellant

                                                                     -vs-

                 1.The Teachers Recruitment Board
                   rep.by its Chairman
                   4th Floor, E.V.K.Sampath Maaligai
                   DPI Campus, College Road
                   Chennai-6

                 2.The Director
                   Directorate of School Education
                   DPI Campus, College Road
                   Chennai-6

                 3.The Director of Government Examinations
                   Education Department
                   Chennai                                                                        ... Respondents
                   [R3 is suo motu impleaded as per the
                   Court order dated 20.08.2024]


                           Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent to set aside the

                 order, dated 04.12.2018, passed in W.P.(MD) No.21591 of 2018, on the file of

                 this Court.


                                  For Appellant      : Ms.Porkodi Karnan
                                                       M/s.Polax Legal Solutions

                                  For Respondents : Mr.T.Amjad Khan
                                                    Standing Counsel for R1
                                                    Mr.J.Ashok
                                                    Additional Government Pleader for R2 & R3

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                                                                        W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019



                                             COMMON                 JUDGMENT

[Judgment of the Court was made by S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.]

The present intra-court appeals have been instituted challenging

the writ orders dismissing the writ petitions filed by the appellants.

2. The grievance of the appellants is that Persons Studied in Tamil

Medium (PSTM) Certificate has not been issued by the Directorate of

Government Examinations for undergoing the certificate course, which

resulted in denial of opportunity to the appellants, who participated in the

recruitment process under the quota allotted for the persons studied in Tamil

medium.

3. The respective learned counsels appearing for the appellants

would mainly contend that the candidates, who undergone the course, are

entitled for the certificate stating as to whether they had undergone the course

in Tamil medium or in any other medium. When the appellants made

applications seeking PSTM Certificate, their applications were not considered

and came to be rejected by the respondents. Thus, the appellants filed the

writ petitions. The learned Single Judge, by the impugned orders, dismissed

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the writ petitions. Aggrieved by the same, the appellants have preferred the

present writ appeals.

4. Learned Standing Counsel appearing for the Teachers

Recruitment Board would oppose the contentions of the appellants by stating

that the issue on hand is no more res integra. The Division Bench of the

Principal Seat of this Court has already elaborately considered the issue on

hand and delivered a judgment dated 16.03.2020 in W.A.Nos.404, 405, 406,

407, 408, 409, 410, 412 and 413 of 2020 (The Secretary, Department of

School Education and others vs. R.Vijayalakshmi) and therefore, the

present writ appeals deserve to be dismissed.

5. Learned counsels appearing for the respective appellants relied

on the interim direction issued by this Court in the present writ appeals

directing the respondent – Department to furnish the particulars relating to

issuance of PSTM Certificates and the reason for rejection of the appellants'

applications.

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6. In this context, the Director of Government Examinations filed

an affidavit, dated Nil, September, 2024. The said affidavit reveals that the

Directorate of Government Examinations conducted examinations for the

individual private candidates only and do not run any institutions or conduct

any training or coaching classes for the candidates, who applied for lower or

higher grade examination. The primary function of the Directorate is only to

conduct examinations. Hence, questioning the verification done for such

institutions whether they are imparting such courses only in Tamil language

does not arise. In the said affidavit, the Director of Government Examinations

has further stated that the candidates, who possess the educational

qualification as prescribed, alone are eligible to apply for lower and higher

grade technical examinations. The relevant portion of the said affidavit reads

as under:

“LOWER GRADE Candidates who apply for LOWER GRADE should have passed 8th standard (ESLC) or Equivalent Examinations in a recognized school or appeared as private candidate with English as one among the Subjects as per Tamilnadu Educational Rules.

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HIGHER GRADE Candidates who apply for HIGHER GRADE should have passed 10th standard (SSLC) or Equivalent Examinations in a recognized school or appeared as private candidate as per Tamilnadu Educational Rules.

(Or) Candidates who apply for HIGHER GRADE in a particular subject should have passed LOWER GRADE in the same subject.

6. It is submitted that this Directorate is not at all connected with private institutions and did not issue PSTM certificates to candidates though so called private institutions.

7. It is submitted that the Question papers were issued to the private candidates only in bilingual (Tamil & English).

8. It is submitted that this Directorate of Government Examinations do not have any practice of issuing PSTM certificate to that effect that a particular candidate belongs to Tamil medium or English medium as this Directorate do not conduct any course to that effect. Hence we are not able to issue PSTM Certificates.”

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7. The above details given by the Directorate of Government

Examinations reveal that they do not have any practice of issuing PSTM

Certificate to the effect that a particular candidate studied the course either in

Tamil medium or English medium as they do not conduct any course to that

effect and hence, they are not in a position to issue PSTM Certificates. We are

of the view that the said reason cannot be brushed aside. When the

Directorate of Government Examinations is neither running any institution

nor conducting any course, they have rightly said that they do not have any

practice of issuing PSTM Certificate.

8. The above position was considered by the Division Bench of this

Court in the common judgment dated 16.03.2020 in W.A.Nos.404, 405, 406,

407, 408, 409, 410, 412 and 413 of 2020, cited supra. The relevant

paragraph stands extracted hereunder:

“37. We are also of the considered opinion that all the writ petitioners with open eyes had applied Online against the notification, which has set out the requirement of certificates as indicated above in detail. Annexure-II read with Claus 9 of the notification, therefore, was well known to the

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respondents/petitioners and they did not challenge the same. Learned counsel for the appellant is, therefore, right in his submission that this excuse cannot be set up to claim a right which is otherwise not available and also does not give rise to any legitimate expectation.”

9. In view of the fact that the Division Bench of this Court, in the

above cited decision, has already elaborately considered the issue on hand, we

are of the view that there is no reason for this Court to further consider the

other grounds raised between the parties to the lis. Thus, we are not inclined

to interfere with the writ orders.

10. Accordingly, these writ appeals are dismissed. No costs.

Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.

                                                                    [S.M.S., J.]            [A.D.M.C., J.]
                                                                                    05.06.2025
                 NCC      : Yes / No
                 Index : Yes / No
                 Internet : Yes / No

                 krk


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W.A.(MD) Nos.84, 325, 457 & 1093 of 2019

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