In a relief to 950 state police personnel, the Madras High Court has allowed the state government to proceed with filling promotional vacancies based on regular seniority list.
This would be without reference to the accelerated promotion granted to 752 personnel of the Special Task Force (STF) involved in the manhunt and killing of forest brigand Veerappan in 2004, the court said in a recent order.
The police department cannot suffer endlessly without filling the promotional posts, it said.
"Therefore, the authorities are directed to proceed ahead to fill up all the vacancies by way of preparing a final seniority list as per the existing rules, without reference to the accelerated promotion."
"However, this is subject to the result of the pending writ petitions," Justice T Raja said.
After Veerappan was gunned down in an encounter, the then AIADMK regime announced a bonanza for all STF personnel with en masse accelerated promotion, cash rewards and free house.
It snowballed into a controversy after others in the force realised that their seniority had been adversely affected by the accelerated promotion.
Noting that the option of joining the STF was not offered to all policemen in the state and that the government had not assessed the individual contribution of STF personnel before announcing the bonanza, several cases were filed.
Later, the then DMK government clarified that the accelerated promotion was a one-stage affair and the beneficiaries would have to await their batch to reach their seniority before getting further promotions.
This order too was challenged by the then STF personnel in the rank of DSP and above.
In 2013, a division bench said accelerated promotion would not mean accelerated seniority.
Subsequently, another batch of similar pleas were moved by personnel below the rank of DSP seeking accelerated seniority and secured an interim stay against filling up the regular promotional vacancies.
During the hearing of the present plea, senior counsel representing the regular police submitted that when a division bench had already rejected the plea of STF cadres in the rank of DSP and above, pleas seeking similar relief by cadres below the rank of DSP should also be rejected.
The counsel also pointed out that over 180 promotional posts were remaining vacant for years due to an interim order restraining the government from proceeding further with the appointments based on regular seniority.
Concurring with his submissions, the court allowed the government to fill the posts, but said such appointments would be subject to the result of pending petitions.
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