The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “Appointment of six as APROs is in violation of rules”

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Monday, Nov 09, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“Appointment of six as APROs is in violation of rules”

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has held that the appointment of six persons as Assistant Public Relations Officers (APROs) in the Tamil Nadu government is in total violation of rules. But, the court said, considering the fact that they had completed nearly 10 years of service, it did not like to disturb their appointment.

Allowing petitions filed by two persons challenging an order of the Information and Tourism Secretary of December 1999 and the consequential order of the Director of Information and Public Relations passed in favour of the six persons, Justice K. Suguna directed the authorities to consider the case of the petitioners for appointment as APROs in the available vacancies. If no vacancy was available, they should be appointed in the immediate future vacancies. A.K. Perumal and K. Thangaraju said they held Diploma in Public Relations and had previous experience. They had registered their names with the employment exchange.

However, without calling for candidates from the exchange, vacancies in the post of APRO were filled up in violation of the rules.

The petitioners said when qualified hands were available and waiting in queue in employment exchange, relaxing the rules, by the impugned orders, V.R.Navaneethakrishnakumar and five others were appointed. This was prima facie illegal. Challenging the appointments, they filed the writ petitions.

Ms. Justice Suguna said the petitioners possessed the required qualification for appointment. When the appointment was through the employment exchange, by relaxing the method and the rule relating to qualifications and other relevant factors, the six were appointed, that too after getting applications from them alone.

Consequently, the authorities’ stand that when the appointed candidates were appointed, the petitioners had not submitted their applications was totally devoid of merit.

The government had the power of relaxation, but when qualified hands were waiting on the rolls of employment exchange, there was no need to appoint unqualified hands by relaxing the qualification. By getting applications from the six persons and giving them appointment actually nullified the object of compulsory notification of employment exchange.

No reason had also been given by the authorities to relax each and every aspect of appointment as far the six were concerned.

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