Madras High Court stays dismissal of seven village assistants in Tamil Nadu

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently stayed an order passed by the State government removing seven village assistants from service, following a batch of petitions filed by them challenging their dismissal.

The petitioners submitted that they were among nearly 3,000 village assistants who had been appointed through employment exchange between 2012 and 2015. But following certain objections and legal proceedings which arose on the ground that the recruitment was done without issuing any paper publication, the government recently dismissed the seven petitioners alone from service, allowing hundreds of similarly placed village assistants to continue in the post, the petitioners alleged.

Stating that they are aged around 40 years and do not have any scope of being recruited in any other government service in the near future, the petitioners requested the court to direct the government to grant them the same relaxation which was given to other village assistants who were permitted to stay in the job despite being appointed through the same process.

Justice GR Swaminathan, who heard the petitions, ordered an interim stay against the dismissal order issued to the petitioners and adjourned the case to November 18.