: Madras High Court division bench today dismissed an appeal by some teachers against a single judge's order, allowing a petition by a PG teacher praying to direct Teachers Recruitment board consider her claim for appointment to PG Assistant in Commerce, under the quota reserved for persons who studied in Tamil Medium.
Justices V Ramasubramanian and V.M.Velumani said as per "Tamilnadu Appointment on Preferential Basis in the Services under the State of Persons Studied in Tamil Medium Ordinance, 2010", providing for preferential treatment to those who had studied in Tamil medium, a person should have got educational qualification prescribed for direct recruitment to a particular post, in Tamil medium.
"Neither the Act nor the Rules, prescribe that to be eligible for the benefit of preferential treatment, a person should have studied in Tamil medium the entire curriculum, starting from Class-I upto the higher education," they said.
They rejected the teachers' contention that candidates should have studied in Tamil medium from the first standard to be eligible for appointment under the 20 per cent reserved for Tamil medium candidates.
Mariammal,who did her M.Com(tamil medium),applied for PG Assistant post.Though she got good marks she was not selected. She was told by TRB that only those who did their entire curriculum in Tamil medium are eligible for the quota
Aggrieved she moved court and her petition was allowed by a single judge. TRB overhauled the entire candidates' list and the appellants who were provisionally selected,were deleted from the selection list. Hence they filed an appeal.
The judges said TRB had also agreed with the single judge's view. The only question was if benefit of preferential treatment to those who studied in Tamil Medium are available only to those who had did their entire school curriculum and higher education in Tamil Medium or whether those benefits are available to persons who studied the qualifications prescribed for the post alone in Tamil Medium.
The Judges said the G.O. Was issued only 2010,as per whic a person should have got educational qualification prescribed for direct recruitment to a particular post, in Tamil medium.
Besides the Act did not intend to penalize those who studied in English medium upto 2010 when it was passed.It was intended to confer the benefit on those who studied in Tamil medium.
"If more persons are attracted towards Tamil medium by virtue of the provisions of the Act, they should not be turned away, on the ground that they underwent their previous curriculum in English medium," the judges said.
