MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, in a recent order, held that former Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel are entitled to age relaxation while participating in police recruitment.
Justice GR Swaminathan said though ex-CAPF may not have the legal right to be treated on par with ex-servicemen, they are entitled to age concession as per a G.O. passed by the Tamil Nadu Home department on December 11, 2006.
The order was passed on a batch of petitions filed by three former Border Security Force (BSF) personnel seeking reservation and age relaxation in the recent recruitment conducted by the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) for the post of Grade-II police constables, Grade-II jail warders and firemen posts in the state.
The petitioners had alleged that the age relaxation and 5% reservation, which were earlier extended to ex-CAPF under the ex-servicemen category, were withdrawn by the government in this recruitment without prior information. They relied on the aforesaid G.O. as well as a communication issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in November 2012, which reportedly told state governments to extend benefits to ex-CAPF personnel on par with the ex-servicemen of the armed forces, to seek the above relief.
However, the judge noted that the Defence Ministry had subsequently taken a policy decision not to treat ex-CAPF on par with ex-servicemen. Even the Home Ministry's communication to state governments is only advisory in nature, he pointed out and opined that the petitioners do not have any legal right to claim reservation and can only move the union or state governments for relief.
However, with regard to age concession, the judge answered in favour of the petitioners by stating that the petitioners are entitled to age relaxation up to 45 years as per the TN government's G.O. A similar petition filed by three serving personnel of BSF was disposed of as they did not participate in the recruitment.