Teachers cant seek to be hired on district-level seniority

Updated on: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

After getting appointed as Secondary Grade Teachers as per State level seniority, in line with a previous High Court judgement, the teachers cannot seek appointment on the basis of district level seniority in the respective districts, the Madras High Court bench here has ruled.

Justice K Chandru gave the order while dismissing a petition filed by C R Anitha of Kanyakumari district.

"It is surprising to note that the petitioner, who is a beneficiary of the enforcement of a right under Art.16 of the Constitution (Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment), and got appointment as per state level seniority, should complaint about the violation of the very article in not getting appointed to Kanyakumari district," he said.

The very purpose of the 2008 judgement of the High Court was to create a unified teacher service for the whole state, he said. In the present case the teacher, having secured appointment, cannot dictate the place of her choice in the posting, he said.

The High Court had quashed the Tamil Nadu Government's decision to appoint secondary grade teachers only through local employment exchanges.

"It is not as if the petitioner had been made to work as a Secondary Grade teacher on a reduced scale on different conditions of service," he said.

The argument that the petitioner would have preferred her home district had she been informed that there were 61 vacancies in Kanyakumari district as her seniority number at the state level was 37 could not be countenanced, he said.

The petitioner, who had a state-level ranking of 37, got her appointment in Ramanathapuram district, though there were 61 vacancies in her native Kanyakumari district, following which she filed this petition.

Teachers cant seek to be hired on district-level seniority

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