Candidates who had pursued their schooling as well as graduation through Tamil medium of instruction but had completed postgraduation alone through English medium are not entitled to preference in government jobs to Tamil medium candidates if the minimum qualification required for those jobs happened to be a Master’s degree, the Madras High Court Bench here has ruled.
A Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and G. Chockalingam passed the order while dismissing a writ appeal filed by J. Stephen Raja, an aspirant to the post of Postgraduate Assistant in economics being filled up by the Teachers Recruitment Board at the behest of the School Education Department and in pursuance of a recruitment notification issued on November 7, 2014 calling for applications.
The judges pointed out that the recruitment notification categorically stated that those applying for the PG Assistant post must possess a postgraduation degree in the relevant subject apart from a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree and that the candidates should have studied the same subject, for which they had applied, in their graduation as well as postgraduation courses.
“Though the appellant had studied the same subject (economics) in graduation as well as postgraduation and had obtained B.Ed., degree in Tamil medium, he had not obtained M.A. in economics through Tamil medium. Thus, he cannot be said to be a person eligible to seek appointment under the preferential category of persons who had studied in Tamil medium,” the Bench observed.
It recorded the submission of Special Government Pleader V.R. Shanmuganathan that the government provided for 20 per cent concession in public recruitment for Tamil medium candidates and a G.O. issued on September 30, 2010 defined the term ‘persons studied in Tamil medium’ as those who had obtained the qualification required for direct recruitment through Tamil medium of instruction.
Subsequently, a Government Letter was sent to the TRB, Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission and the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board clarifying that the definition in the G.O. should be understood to mean that those applying for posts requiring a postgraduation degree should have pursued their Master’s degree through Tamil medium to claim the concession.
