Supreme Court: Direct recruits of 1983 batch rank above special and compassionate appointees in Tamil Nadu ministerial service
The question: Whether Compassionate appointees can rank above Direct recruits of the 1983 batch on the strength of the Government Order of 14th September 1984
The Supreme Court has held that Direct recruits of the 1983 batch in the Tamil Nadu Ministerial Service rank senior to both the Special appointees regularised in 1984 and the Compassionate appointees, and that the Compassionate and Special appointees are to be ranked between themselves from the date of their regularisation. A Bench of Justice S.V.N. Bhatti and Justice Shree Chandrashekhar partly modified a Madras High Court judgment of 3rd April 2006. During 1981-83 the State of Tamil Nadu banned regular appointment of Junior Assistants and other ministerial staff, though temporary appointments were made under Rule 10(a)(i) of the General Rules in Part II of the Tamil Nadu State and Subordinate Services Rules, 1955. M. Prema and 13 others were so appointed in 1981-84. The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission meanwhile held a competitive examination on 27th November 1983 for Group IV posts, and the selected candidates were appointed in 1985-87. They are the Direct recruits of 1983 batch. The Special appointees were regularised in service with effect from 26th June 1984 (the judgment elsewhere gives 25th June 1984) and their seniority was fixed under Clause 10 of the Special Absorption Rules, 1987. Two Compassionate appointees, S. Prem Kumar and T.A. Kannappa, were appointed in 1985 under Rule 48 and regularised with effect from their initial dates of appointment. The Division Bench of the High Court had placed Direct recruits above Special appointees, but ranked the Compassionate appointees against Direct recruits by date of initial appointment. The Direct recruits, the Special appointees and the transferred cases challenging Clause 10 all came to this Court.