Circular against State’s reservation policy struck down by govt panel

CHENNAI: A high level committee of the Tamil Nadu government has struck down the circular issued in June last year that undermined the state’s reservation policy and directed the district collectors not to accommodate candidates of other communities in the posts earmarked for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes.

Following this, Dalit activists demanded the government to take up a state-wide drive to identify and revoke the appointment of non-SC candidates in the posts reserved for SC/ST candidates.

The Tamil Nadu government formed the high level panel under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Management after the National Commission for Scheduled Caste flagged the issue. The commission directed the state government to take swift measures to fill over 10,400 backlog vacancies reserved for the SCs/STs candidates in various government departments.

Sources in the government said that the high level committee - comprising senior bureaucrats from Revenue, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare and Human Resources Management - held a meeting two months ago to look into the controversial circular issued on June 2, 2022 by then Commissioner of Revenue Administration MA Siddique.

Going by the circular, the district collectors have been instructed to carry forward SC/ST vacancies in excess of 50% of the total vacancies to next year as per the provision of 27 (f) of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Services) Act 2016.

The committee struck down the circular, stating that “it is unacceptable to accommodate candidates of other communities in the post earmarked for SC/ST”. The panel members, in the meeting, said the implementation of the June 2 circular was against the prevailing rules and violation of the Constitutional provision and it was “unacceptable”. The panel unanimously decided that the June 2 circular may be rescinded.

Welcoming the high level panel’s decision, S Karuppiah of Dalit Liberation Movement said the government should issue a direction to cancel the re-drawn panel of deputy Tahsildar for the year 2004 to 2021 to fill the backlog vacancies.