CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Municipal Administration and Water Supply (MAWS) department to prepare a revised state-wide inter-se seniority list of engineers serving with the urban local bodies for granting promotion to the post of assistant executive engineer by reviewing the promotions already granted.
A division bench of justices S M Subramaniam and K Govindarajan passed the orders recently on a batch of petitions filed by the aggrieved engineers seeking parity in promotion.
“By correcting the inter-se seniority list and rectifying the errors, if any, all further promotions to the posts of Chief Engineer, Superintending Engineer (SE), Executive Engineer (EE) and Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) shall be granted by scrupulously following the procedures as contemplated under the Act, Rules and Government policies,” the bench said in the order.
It granted four months’ time to the authorities concerned to complete the exercise of preparing the revised inter-se seniority list of engineers serving with corporations, municipalities and town panchayats.
The bench upheld the validity of GO (4D) No. 1 of MAWS department dated January 7, 2025, stating that there is no infirmity or illegality in fixing the ratio – 2:2:1 for GCC, other municipal corporations and other municipal bodies – for grant of promotion among the eligible officers from the feeder category and by fixing inter-se seniority.
Further, it held that the ratio fixed by the state to eliminate inequality in the matter of grant of promotion in this GO, passed under the amended Rule 192 A (5), cannot be said to be infirm or in violation of the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Act.
During arguments, Additional Advocate General (AAG) N Kavitha Rameshwar, representing the state, submitted that the government is inclined to follow the ratio of 2:2:1 for GCC, other municipal corporations and other municipal bodies for promotions to the posts of Chief Engineer, SE, EE and AEE fixed in GO (4D) No. 1 of MAWS department.
The court shall take into account the constitutional validity and the principle of reasonableness the state adopted in granting promotions, and a few grievances of the employees cannot be a ground to invalidate any provisions of a statute or rules, the AAG said.