Madras High Court clears direct JE hiring of Erode Corporation
The government’s move to fill up the existing 11 vacancies in the Erode corporation cannot be held as illegal in such a backdrop, wrote the judge and allowed the State to continue with the process of direct recruitment.
Madras High Court
CHENNAI: Noting that an employee cannot seek promotion by asking for relaxation of rules as a matter of right, in the absence of fulfilling necessary qualifications, the Madras High Court refused to promote eight junior engineers from Erode corporation as assistant engineers, in a case filed against direct recruitment.
As per the government’s policy an employee seeking for promotion as assistant engineer must possess a degree in engineering or town planning from a recognised university and should be a serving junior engineer for not less than five years.
As the petitioners had not fulfilled the criteria, they were not entitled to the promotion, held Justice N Anand Venkatesh.
The government’s move to fill up the existing 11 vacancies in the Erode corporation cannot be held as illegal in such a backdrop, wrote the judge and allowed the State to continue with the process of direct recruitment.
Since the petitioners had not completed the five years of service as junior engineers on the crucial date fixed for filling up the vacancies, at best they can be considered only by the panel for 2024-2025, read the order.
According to the petitioners they were all employed in the Erode corporation for various periods and attained the post of junior engineer in 2019.
Their next avenue of promotion is to be elevated as assistant engineer since they have completed the service of junior engineer for five years, said the petitioners.
They also referred to the two government orders issued by the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department in 2023 and submitted that according to the orders, the vacant post should be filled by promotion before making direct recruitment.
Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran on behalf of the State submitted that on March 15, 2023, the crucial date fixed to fill the vacancies none of the petitioners had completed five years as junior engineers nor did they possess the necessary qualifications prescribed under the service rules.