Tamil Nadu Information Commission recommends compulsory retirement to 9 IAS officers who headed Teachers Recruitment Board

Case relates to the recruitment of Teachers/Asst Professors by TRB

April 10, 2021 02:18 pm | Updated 08:34 pm IST - CHENNAI

Tamil Nadu Information Commissioner S. Muthuraj. Photo: tnsic.gov.in

Tamil Nadu Information Commissioner S. Muthuraj. Photo: tnsic.gov.in

In a rare order, the Tamil Nadu Information Commission has recommended "compulsory retirement" to nine IAS officers in the State, who held the post of Chairman, Teachers Recruitment Board, between June 2011 and October 2020. [Incidentally, some of the nine IAS officers had already retired from service.]

Asking the Chief Secretary to record in the Annual Confidential Reports of the nine officers that they failed to ensure accountability and transparency while heading the TRB, State Information Commissioner S. Muthuraj recommended that disciplinary action be initiated as per rules and they be sent on "compulsory retirement".

The case pertains to the recruitment of Teachers/Assistant Professors through competitive examinations conducted by the TRB on various occasions. The contention of some candidates who moved the TNIC was that though they entered the correct answer in the multiple choice questions, it was marked as wrong denying them marks resulting in their not getting the jobs.

Expressing concern that lack of accountability and transparency was resulting in the same mistake repeating in the conduct of competitive examinations, particularly in TRB, Mr. Muthuraj directed the TRB Chairman to implement the Commission’s order to provide full and complete information sought by the petitioners (who sought to know why they were not given marks despite entering the correct answers and also the material on the basis of answer keys were finalised) and also initiate action against those responsible for preparing the wrong answer keys.

He said officials in the TRB not only failed to address the issue despite court and TNIC orders but took no steps to make sure that such anomalies do not recur in future. Had the authorities concerned published the relevant study material or books on the basis of which answers were finalised at the time of releasing the tentative answer keys and acted as per the National Litigation Policy or State Litigation Policy, the cases before courts and TNIC could have been avoided.

Invoking various provisions under the Right to Information Act, 2005, Mr. Muthuraj after citing various dereliction of duties on the part of the IAS officers who held the post of Chairman, TRB, wrote to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary recommending that they be sent on "compulsory retirement".

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