CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Thursday quashed the appointment of 11 people as members of the Tami Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) saying their selection in January this year was without any process.
The 11 people, most of whom are AIADMK party lawyers, were appointed within a day of deliberations. The members are former district judge V Ramamurthy, R Pratap Kumar, V Subburaj, S Muthuraj, M Sethuraaman, A V Balusamy, M Madasamy, P Krishna Kumar, A Subramanian, N B Punniamoorthi and M Raja Ram, IAS.
Their appointment happened before the model code of conduct came to force in the state ahead of the May 16 assembly elections.
The GO was issued on January 31, 2016 after the entire ‘selection’ process was rushed through in a day.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan quashed the appointments, on a batch of PILs filed by TKS Elangovan of DMK and Advocates Forum for Social Justice president K Balu.
Their appointments had been made without any process, the judges said, adding that even the Governor of Tamil Nadu had not noticed the lapse, which had perhaps escaped his eyes.
Concurring with the submissions of senior advocate P Wilson, who represented Elangovan, that the 11 lacked merit, qualifications and experience for the constitutional post, the judges, however, said the quash order was not reflection on the merits of the candidates.
The bench was particularly harsh on retired district judge Ramamurthy, because his services were not extended beyond 58 years due his service record.
The bench said, “Ramamurthy is held ineligible for the post of the member of the Public Service Commission, for that matter any other post-retirement judicial post.”
Bureau Report
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