Post considered as notified only after advertisement: HC

The first bench comprising AP Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy offered the clarification on a plea moved by five persons seeking to quash Section 20 (4) of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016, which prescribes the age eligibility as on first July of the year in which the vacancy is notified.

Their counsel PVS Giridhar contended that the vacancy was intimated to the TNPSC in 2019, which meant that the prescription of age has to be reckoned from as on July 1, 2019. But since the advertisement for it was issued on January 1, TNPSC cannot advertise July 1 as the date of reckoning of the age prescription, which is 37 years in the present case.

Due to this, the petitioners failed to complete 37 years as on July 1, thereby making them ineligible for appearing in the examinations, he said. However, the bench said as per the Act the word “notified” does not connote any notification to the TNPSC by the government regarding filling up vacancies. “The reckoning of the date of eligibility and qualifications, and the right to be considered of an aspirant, therefore, is only after an advertisement is issued indicating the vacancies and the posts. “It is in this context that the word “notified” has to be understood, as the advertisement is the first step making an offer to the aspirants to enable them to apply,” the bench added.