CHENNAI: Justice SM Subramaniam of the Madras High Court has expressed shock over the fact that not even a single member belonging to the ST community has been appointed as faculty in law colleges run by the State.“The shocking information brought to the notice of this court is that not even one Scheduled Tribe candidate is appointed as law professor in the government law colleges and Dr Ambedkar Law University across the State after Independence under the Reservation Rule,” the judge said.
The executives, who are responsible and accountable for this lacunae, shall be prosecuted and disciplinary proceedings are to be initiated in accordance with law, the judge said and directed the State to ensure proper implementation of the Rule of Reservation in the appointments by maintaining adequate representation of all the communities.
In the event of any lapses or negligence on the part of the executives, then the government shall initiate appropriate prosecution and disciplinary proceedings against the executives, who are responsible for the erroneous or non-implementation of the Statutes and the Constitutional mandates, the judge said and added that the National Commission for Scheduled Castes shall scrutinise the allegations made by the writ petitioners and institute appropriate actions in this regard.
The judge also directed the University Grants Commission to appoint a special inspection panel to identify the illegal and irregular appointments made in the TN Dr Ambedkar Law University and its affiliated colleges with reference to the UGC Regulations and the TN Dr Ambedkar Law University Act and accordingly.
The judge was passing orders on a writ petition from K Gunanidhi and another, seeking to quash a notification dated July 18, 2018, and consequently direct the Teacher Recruitment Board to issue a fresh notification, providing reservation to the ST community in the appointment of professors for Labour and Administrative Law.
Accepting the arguments of advocate R Jayaprakash and others and noting the discrepancies while appointing the law teachers on subject-wise basis, the judge said that he is inclined to quash the notification dated July 18, 2018, to the extent of the current vacancies notified for recruitment to the posts of International Law (10 vacancies), Labour Law (12), Constitutional Law (15) and Administrative Law (10).
In respect of the other subjects and the respective vacancies notified, the authorities shall review the selection list now under preparation, pursuant to the July 18 notification and arrange the merit list strictly in consonance with the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in 2007 while implementing the vertical and horizontal reservations and also by following the 200 point roster system as per the TN Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act.