CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority is yet to respond to a three-year-old letter from the State government asking in how many cases the Authority had relaxed the age norm when recruiting planners directly.
It is reliably learnt that the then Housing department secretary, Thanga Kaliyaperumal, in January 2014, wrote a letter to the authority, asking how many posts it had reserved for its own staff and how much age relaxation was granted to them. But a reply is yet to come, sources in the department told Express.
The recruitments, which are now under the State government’s scanner, were held for posts like senior planners, assistant planners and deputy planners. The CMDA had earlier come up with the idea of directly recruiting staff for these posts, instead of internally promoting the staff. Since the State government did not agree to the staff taking the tests for the direct recruitment, the Authority in 2010 informed the Housing department that it would give up the plan for direct recruitment. But it subsequently went ahead with direct recruitment and also granted age relaxation.
The issue was raised by Thanga Kaliyaperumal in the letter, saying it could be illegal for the CMDA to relax the age-limit. The letter pointed out that as per approved service regulations, 1980, the power of relaxing age-limit is vested with the Authority in specific cases only. Since the CMDA is following the Rule 12 (d) of the Tamil Nadu Subordinate Service Rules, it can relax age only for SC/STs as well as Backward Castes and Most Backward Castes.
However, the CMDA doesn’t have power to relax upper age limit for other categories and in case it goes in for age relaxation, then it should be done with prior permission from the government.
The State has asked the CMDA to file a report giving names of persons with their designations to whom age relaxation was earlier granted.
It has also asked the CMDA to justify the need for following Rule 12 (d) of the Tamil Nadu Subordinate Service Rules, which permit age relaxation for the SC/ST/BC/MBC category only and wherein the CMDA is vested with powers to relax the age norm.
However, the CMDA has never filed any report, forcing many of its employees to file cases, sources said. It is learnt more than 30 to 40 cases are being filed by employees against the CMDA as it has tinkered with service rules.
Similarly, the CMDA is going ahead with recruitment of deputy planner under direct recruitment without bringing it to the notice of the government that there is a case pending in court over the issue. The case was filed by the Association of Professional Town Planners in 2011, who challenged the direct recruitment.
Audit report had raised objections
Even a CMDA audit report has raised objections to the appointment of planning assistant grade-1 beyond the age limit prescribed in service rules as it was not ratified by the government. This was done in violation of the Madras High Court order in 2007