The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed a writ petition that had challenged an amendment made in 2020 to the Tamil Nadu Appointment on Preferential Basis in the Services under the State of Persons Studied in Tamil Medium Act, 2010, to ensure that only those who had studied in Tamil medium throughout since the start of their schooling were eligible for the benefit.
Justices T. Raja and Kabali Kumaresh Babu rejected the writ petition filed by a woman who had pursued Classes XI and XII alone in English medium though she had studied till Class X and also her graduation as well as post-graduation in Tamil medium. They agreed with the Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran that the court could not carve out an exception for the petitioner.
The AAG told the court that, before the 2020 amendment, people who had obtained either graduation or post-graduation alone in Tamil medium ended up reaping the benefits of preferential appointment under the law. Therefore, the legislature had decided to amend the Act so that only those who had pursued their entire education in Tamil get to benefit.
Such an amendment had also received the approval of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which on March 22, 2021, observed that only those who had pursued their entire education, beginning from school, in Tamil should be given preference in government jobs, the AAG recalled.
