TIRUCHY: While the state announced 84 vacancies for Executive Engineers (EEs) in the Public Works Department (PWD) and Water Resources Department (WRD) for 2024-25, they have been unable to fill these positions for over five months due to a court’s order to maintain status quo regarding the AEEs’ promotion.
Assistant Executive Engineers (AEE) fear the delay will affect their seniority and benefits.
According to sources, the issue arose from the division between PWD and WRD. During 1997-1999, the TNPSC conducted exams to fill vacancies, selecting 210 Assistant Engineers (AEs). In 2013-14, they were promoted to AEEs. Initially, TNPSC assigned seniority ranks based on the communal roster system. However, in 2021, following a Supreme Court order, TNPSC revised these ranks, granting them (seniority) based on examination marks.
On November 1, 2021, the state issued G.O. No. 158, resulting in the bifurcation of the erstwhile PWD into two distinct entities, PWD and WRD. Before this division, preference letters were collected from all engineers regarding their departmental choices. Accordingly, staff strength was allocated based on percentages, PWD (32%) and WRD (68%). Out of the 210 AEEs, 52 were placed in PWD, and 158 in WRD.
In 2021-2023, 52 AEEs in the PWD were promoted to EEs. Similarly, of the 158 AEEs in the WRD, only 76 were promoted to EEs, while the remaining 82 AEEs were not.
As AEEs from the 2000 batch in the PWD have already been promoted, engineers from their junior batch (2007) are also likely to be promoted. Fearing this, 11 WRD AEEs want to be transferred to the PWD to secure their promotions. For this, in February 2024, 11 WRD AEEs out of 82 AEEs with over 12 years of service moved the HC seeking a transfer to PWD and a stay on promotions within PWD.
The court then ordered PWD and WRD to maintain status quo on promotions.
In September 2024, a G.O. was issued announcing 49 vacancies for EEs in WRD for 2024-25, followed by another G.O. in December 2024 announcing 35 vacancies for EEs in the PWD for 2024-25. But the vacancies remain unfilled.
An AEE in WRD (working for over 12 years) told TNIE, “As per G.O. No. 158 when juniors from our batch are promoted to EE, we should also have been granted the special EE rank. Engineers from the 2007 batch who have worked less than five years will likely be promoted. So with 35 vacancies in PWD and 49 vacancies in WRD, we demand that the current status quo be removed and our deserved promotions be provided.”
A top official from WRD in Chennai said, “There are ongoing arguments in court on this issue. The next trial is scheduled for Tuesday.”