CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has declared the orders of the Tamil Nadu government and the Annamalai University for downgrading the rank and pay scales of the surplus non-teaching staff as ‘illegal’ and ordered the restoration of designation and pay scales within four weeks.
Justice MS Ramesh passed the orders recently on a batch of petitions filed by the university’s surplus non-teaching staff who were re-designated as part of a redeployment drive along with a re-fixation of their pay scales.
As many as 785 staff were redeployed to various other government departments in lower levels of rank due to the sinking financial position of the university which was taken over by the government and on the grounds that they had been appointed to non-sanctioned posts.
Declaring the orders of the state government and the university as ‘illegal’, the judge directed the respondent authorities to pass appropriate orders for restoring the pay scales and refunding the differential amount in case of reduction of salary within four weeks.
However, he said the respondent authorities can re-designate the posts of the petitioners to the posts they were holding already or to such posts that have the same pay scale or higher scale or create equal supernumerary posts.
Justice Ramesh noted that the university has failed to substantiate the charge that some of the staff were appointed to non-sanctioned posts and did not have adequate qualifications.
He also stated that taking such action without a proper inquiry by issuing show cause notice to the staff is not only a violation of Article 311 (2) of the Constitution but also deprives them of an equal opportunity in the matter of public employment.
HC: Recruit Pondy univ registrar by June 30
Chennai: Expressing surprise over the stalling of Pondicherry University’s registrar recruitment process due to the Lok Sabha elections, the Madras High Court directed the authorities concerned to go ahead and complete the process by June 30.
The university had informed the court that a selection committee was constituted and letters for conducting interviews on April 6 and 7 were issued but were postponed due to the elections. Referring to this submission, the first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad said,
“We fail to understand the said reason for postponing the interviews.” The bench ordered the authorities to hold the interview by the end of May and the selection process shall be completed by June 30. The order was issued on the petition filed by the Pondicherry University Non-Teaching Staff Welfare Association seeking orders to appoint a regular Registrar and Controller of Examinations.