CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is facing legal trouble over filling of vacant posts, as directed by the Madras High Court, because it has yet to approve draft rules.
After assuring Madras HC of filling the 176 posts for which tests and interview were conducted, it has yet to fill in the posts as there is confusion over whether to go by the earlier service rules or to notify the draft rules and then select the candidates as per the norms.
Sources said that housing secretary Dharmendra Pratap Yadav is seeking six months more from the Madras High Court to comply with the order but questions remain how CMDA is going to fill the post when some of the posts under services rules are not approved.
It is alleged that while the prescribed maximum age to write exams was 35 years, there have been instances wherein the norms were relaxed to allow persons above the age of 45 to write exams.
Even the prescribed qualification for selecting the assistant engineer has been questioned. “They have sought Bachelor of Engineer with five-year junior engineer experience. How could that be possible and did they scrutinise the applications before allowing them to write exams?” said sources.
When Express contacted a top official, he refused to answer stating that it is an internal matter.
The delay in notifying the amendments to the Service Rules Act since 1992 has resulted in confusion with officials bending the draft rules every now and then without referring to the Service rules enacted in 1980 resulting in a backlog of more than 40 cases pending in the Madras High Court.