Two-week deadline for Tangedco to finish hiring of technical assistants

A bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad, also directed Tangedco not to publish the results and instead submit the same before the court in a sealed cover on February 18, and said, “Writ petitions are pending from 2017 onwards. There is no interim order restraining Tangedco from completing the selection process viz conducting interview and enlisting candidates, on the inter se merit and applying rule of reservation.”

“Posts are not to be kept vacant, as it would affect administration, more so, in the case of technical assistants, both electrical and mechanical,” the bench added.

The bench had passed the order on an appeal that had been filed aggrieved over an order dated June 26, 2018, which declined to direct Tangedco from completing the process of selection of both electrical and mechanical technicians, a per the procedure set out in the employment notification dated February 28, 2016.

As per the case, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board Engineers Sangam had sought to declare Clause 4(d) of the Employment notification as void, in so far as, it allows graduate engineers to also compete in the selection for 525 posts of technical assistants.

Ero Velai Illa Pattatharigal Sangam had also moved a plea seeking to allow its members and other similarly placed graduate engineers with BE degree in electrical/mechanical engineering or equivalent qualification to apply for the posts of technical assistants.

While the plea sought to declare as ultra vires the provision that would enable diploma holders alone as eligible, Tangedco had submitted that the practice is that those who have studied diploma at the first instance and thereafter, acquired BE degree would also be eligible to compete along with diploma holders for the post of technical assistants.

However, the bench while giving the green signal to complete the selection process recorded the submission of Senior Counsel appearing for TNEB Engineers Sangam that for the posts notified, as many as 2,625 candidates have been found eligible and of them 289 are degree holders and 2,336 candidates are diploma holders.

The bench also recorded the submission of senior Counsel C Manishankar appearing for Tangedco that there are 3,000 vacancies in the posts of electrical technical assistants and mechanical technical assistants.