Filling of reserved vacancies for PwDs, SC/STs remains a tall claim in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: The majority of the backlog vacancies reserved for persons with disabilities (PwDs) and Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) in government and public sectors remain unfilled despite the Tamil Nadu government taking a policy decision to conduct a special drive to fill them. Ironically, the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons department is facing an uphill task in even identifying the backlog vacancies for PwDs.

On behalf of Chief Minister MK Stalin, who holds the portfolio, Social Welfare Minister Geetha Jeevan, on April 17, 2023, informed the State Assembly that a special drive would be carried out to fill the vacancies reserved for PwDs. However, red-tapism, it is claimed, is derailing and delaying the political will of the government.

State vice-president of TARATDAC, S Namburajan, said the government's special drive order in 2023 remains on paper. "The government is managing the issue politically but lacks willpower. The negative approach and thoughts among bureaucrats in giving employment to diff-abled is one of the reasons for backlog vacancies," he charged.

Representatives and differently-abled activists opined that their repeated attempts to press for their rights are going unheeded. "The government speaks a lot about the rights of diff-abled. But the talks are not translating into action," said M Sagadevan, president of the Indian Foundation for Differently Abled.

Citing government data, Sagadevan said there were more than 1,400 backlog vacancies in the A and B categories and 200 vacancies in the C and D categories. He, along with Rubanmuthu of the College Students and Graduates Association of The Blinds and representatives of other associations, had met with the Commissioner of the department to know the status of backlog vacancies and the 4% reservation. "We got the usual response that they will soon be filled," he said. Rubanmuthu and members of his association also staged a series of protests in February this year demanding 4% reservation.

A senior official in the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons (WDA) department, preferring anonymity, said they have received communication regarding the backlog vacancies for the PwDs, "half-baked data from 33 of the 60 odd government departments".

"We have not received any communication from nearly 50% of departments, while some of the departments had furnished details of posts unsuitable for PwDs," said a senior official in the department and pointed out that Tangedco had listed posts such as 'foreman' for PwDs.

Since there was no appropriate response from many departments, delaying the process of taking up the special drive, the officials in WDA are contemplating holding a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Shiva Das Meena. "We will ask heads of other government departments to maintain a dashboard to have real-time data on category-wise backlog vacancies to fill them whenever situations arise," said the official.

The situation is no better for the aspirants of government employment among SC/STs. The state government vouched to conduct special drives to fill over 10,800 odd backlog vacancies reserved for the SC/ST communities. The commitment was given by the present dispensation after returning to power in 2021. It assured to conduct a special drive to fill the backlog vacancies. It also hit out at the previous AIADMK regime for failing to address the issue, resulting in the accumulation of backlog vacancies for SC/ST during its 10-year regime from 2011-2021.

Secretary to Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, Laxmi Priya, said that the School Education and Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) departments have notified the backlog vacancies and filled some of them during the recruitment drive carried out by the TN Public Service Commission. "We have asked other departments to notify the backlog vacancies in their respective departments and fill them through TNPSC along with a regular recruitment drive," said the officer.

Sources in the government said heads of several departments are not giving importance to the piling up of backlog vacancies.

Floor leader of VCK, Sinthanai Selvan, said his party has been flagging the issue for a long time in the Assembly and other forums. But the response is not appropriate. He, however, welcomed CM Stalin's announcement under Rule 110 in the recently concluded Assembly session that 75,000 vacancies would be filled by January 2026 and urged him to give "priority" to the SC/ST candidates while clearing backlog vacancies. "We are hoping that this government will soon clear the backlog vacancies," he said. The government should also look into over-shortfall (backlog) vacancies reserved for SC/STs, breaching over 14,000, in the higher education department alone, he said.