Court stays recruitment of 8,888 persons by TNUSRB

Expressing utter dismay over the way the recruitment had progressed, Justice N Anand Venkatesh granted the interim stay before directing the Government and TNUSRB to file their reply by March 5.

Also, noting that people in villages still consider government jobs as a privilege and work hard to gain entry into the same and hence such irregularities would utterly disappoint and distress them, Justice Anand Venkatesh sought details as to how all those selected from the two districts where from a particular tuition centre and how they had all scored uniform marks.

The judge while seeking details of the scams that had transpired in the exams held by TNUSRB during the past 10 years also sought to know as to how two candidates took up the physical exam while they had failed to clear the written test.

As many as 15 people including R Anbarasan had moved the plea alleging that similar to the scam that had surfaced in the recruitment for Group IV and 2A held by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) another scam had surfaced in the recruitment conducted by TNUSRB.

About 1,019 candidates have been selected from Vellore district and another 763 were chosen from exam centre in Villupuram. All these candidates are declared to have secured 72 marks in the exams. Most of those selected from Vellore are from Sigaram Tuition Centre, the plea said while holding that the marks they had scored in the written exam as well as the physical examination was not informed to them.

Besides irregularities in the selection process, 20 per cent reservation for people who studied in Tamil medium has not been provided in the recruitment, the petitioners said while seeking for a CBI investigation into the recruitment process that had transpired.

The issue pertains to the recruitment conducted pursuant to the notification issued by TNUSRB in 2019 for total vacancies of 8,888 posts of grade-II constables, firemen and jail wardens.