CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) has no jurisdiction to cancel the selection made by it by doubting the community status of a candidate concerned at a later stage, the Madras High Court has ruled.
Coming to the help of a junior inspector of co-operative societies, sacked 21 years ago. A division bench of Justices N Paul Vasanthakumar and M Sathyanarayanan gave the ruling, on June 19 last.
The case of V Narasimhan is that he was appointed as Junior Inspector of Co-operative Societies through employment exchange. After the steps being taken by the government to regularise the services of temporary hands, the TNPSC conducted a special qualifying exam in which the appellant had secured the qualifying marks.
His application, however, was rejected by an order dated June 23, 1993 by cancelling the selection on the ground that the community certificate obtained by the appellant, certifying that he belongs to Puthirai Vannan Community, which is a Scheduled Caste, was not a genuine one. The order of termination was passed by the Department on July 23,1993. Both the orders were challenged. The High Court, however, dismissed the writ petitions and the revision petitions in July 2012. Hence, the present writ appeals.
During the pendency of the review applications, the Tahsildar, Kothagiri, has issued a community certificate dated November 11, 2010, certifying that the appellant belongs to Hindu Puthiri Vannan Community, which is recognised as Scheduled Caste as per the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976, vide Serial No.60.
When the writ appeals were listed on June 4 this year, the Special Government Pleader was directed to ascertain the genuineness of the November 11, 2010 certificate.
The SGP informed the court that the certificate was genuine and it was issued by the competent officer. “Thus, it is beyond doubt that the appellant’s community certificate was not bogus,’’ the bench said. “This Court in very many decisions had held that the TNPSC has no jurisdiction to cancel the selection by doubting the community status of a candidate.