NCSC summons TNPSC officials over promotion issue of Dalit officers

The order directed the officials to appear before L Murugan, Vice Chairman, NCSC, at 2 pm in his office, in New Delhi. Sources at NCSC, Chennai, said that the Revenue Department Secretary and TNPSC had long been reluctant to implement the GOs, which directed them to give priority to 23 Dalit officials recruited under backlog vacancies. 

The sources added that it is likely that the TNPSC Chairman might skip the meeting and only Principal Secretary of Revenue Department and TNPSC Secretary would be meeting the NCSC officials.

The summon had been issued based on the representation from all the 23 Dalit officials who had submitted the representation to Murugan in June, said sources. 

Earlier, activist Pandiarajan, member of District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, Madurai, submitted a representation to NCSC in March, with the same demand of initiating action on TNPSC for not following the GOs. Based on the representations NCSC had sent the summon.

One of the Dalit officials told DT Next that it should probably be the first time that TNPSC is summoned by NCSC and it is a shame for TNPSC as both of them are constitutional bodies.

If the TNPSC had implemented the GOs there would have been no trouble, but they acted on vested interests of a few and it resulted in NCSC summoning them. 

A section of TNPSC toppers who have their kin as members in TNPSC had influenced the Commission not to give priority to Dalit candidates but now as NCSC had interfered, TNPSC must implement the GOs, said the official. 

The 23 backlog vacancies for Dalit candidates were created in 2007-08 and they were filled in 2012-13 along with the 33 regular vacancies. Among the 56 candidates selected in 201213, various GOs had directed the TNPSC to give priority to the 23 Dalit officials who were recruited under backlog vacancies but TNPSC had continuously refused to oblige, citing various reasons.