The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) cannot withhold the result of a candidate on the grounds that verification of his/her community certificate is pending, the Madras high court has ruled. The court also directed that permanent committees be constituted for verification by the state government and the process of certificate verification completed within two months.
A full bench of the court, comprising Justices D Murugesan, R Banumathi and K K Sasidharan, passed the above orders on an appeal filed by TNPSC against an earlier order of a division bench in 2010.
The matter relates to R Manikandan, who appeared for the Combined Subordinate Services Examination-I in 2008. He had obtained a certificate from the revenue divisional officer, Cheranmahadevi, saying he belonged to the Hindu Konda Reddi Scheduled Tribe. While he was selected in the written and oral exam in the quota reserved for ST candidates, his name was missing when the results announcing the list of selected candidates was published in October 2009.
He was told that his result would be declared only after his community certificate was scrutinized by the competent committee. Manikandan made a representation to TNPSC a few days later to publish his result but it was not considered. He moved the court seeking relief.
Passing orders, the full bench said the verification of community certificates for Scheduled Tribes could be done only by the scrutiny committee appointed by the state government. According to a GO in 2007, this panel is made up of the secretary, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department; director or commissioner, Tribal Welfare and an anthropologist.
Ruling that the TNPSC could not withhold the result of Manikandan, the judges directed the commission to declare the result and forward his name to the government for appointment. The appointment would be subject to verification of the community certificate by the scrutiny committee.
In view of the recurrent difficulties faced not only by candidates but also the recruiting agency, the bench observed that verification of genuineness of certificates at the earliest was absolutely necessary. "Though two committees, one at the district level and the other at the state level, were already constituted, we are given to understand that the committees do not sit regularly because of other works, which results in delay in the verification process," the judges said.
Noting that these proceedings, namely the verification of genuineness of certificates, should be completed in a period not exceeding two months, the bench directed the government to constitute committees on a permanent basis. This would enable legitimate and genuine candidates to avail themselves of their rights as provided under the Constitution without undergoing any ordeal in the matter of admission or appointment or undergoing a long-drawn litigation, the judges said
Courtesy:TOI
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