The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) on Friday had finally agreed to give priority to backlog vacancies and placed 23 Dalit officials in the rank of sub-collectors above others in the seniority list that was submitted to National Commission of Scheduled Castes (NCSC).
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Chennai:
According to NCSC sources, the TNPSC Secretary had handed over a new list to L Murugan, vice president of NCSC, in which 23 Dalit officials, recruited through backlog vacancies were placed above others in fixing the seniority. At the meeting held at the office of Murugan, secretaries of Revenue Department and TNPSC participated.
In the list, a copy of which is present with DT Next, the newly prepared seniority rank list along with the general rank list was present. In the seniority rank list the names of the 23 Dalit officials had been placed above the remaining 33 candidates. The 23 Dalit officials would be given priority in the promotion of District Revenue Officers (DROs), which will be done by the end of the year.
Sources also said that the secretaries had informed Murugan that they have sent the list to the government and it should be approved by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. After getting approval, the promotion list would be released as a Government Order (GO), said the official.
When asked about the number of days to be taken to publish the GO, the secretaries had informed Murugan that it will take 10 days for Chief Minister to approve and when Murugan asked whether the GO can be released in seven days the secretaries had informed him that due to administrative delays the procedure will take 10 days.
The Dalit officials were jubilant after hearing the news that TNPSC had finally decided to comply with the GO. One of the Dalit officials, on request of anonymity, told this paper, “We had won the four-year battle and finally justice has prevailed in the case.”
The backlog vacancies for Dalit candidates in the Group-I exam, conducted to recruit top bureaucrats, by TNPSC was created in 2007-08 and it was filled in 2012-13, as 56 candidates were recruited which included 23 backlog vacancies. However, TNPSC did not give priority to backlog vacancies in preparing the seniority list till 2018.
Pandirajan, District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, Madurai, had sent a petition to NCSC demanding intervention in the issue as TNPSC did not comply with the GO, passed by the state government. He was followed by 23 Dalit officials, who also demanded the NCSC to intervene in the issue and to give priority for them in promotion.