Mr. JUSTICE R. SURESH KUMAR AND THE HONOURABLE Mr. JUSTICE HEMANT CHANDANGOUDAR W.A.No.2619 of 2025 Teachers appointment order.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 01.09.2025
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE Mr. JUSTICE R. SURESH KUMAR
AND
THE HONOURABLE Mr. JUSTICE HEMANT CHANDANGOUDAR
W.A.No.2619 of 2025
AND
C. M.P.No.20937 of 2025
J.Prabahar and 77 Others .. Appellants
Vs.
M.Alaudeen Basha and 91 Others .. Respondents
Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of Letters Patent to set aside the order dated 21.03.2025 passed in W.P.No.32351 of 2022.
Civil Miscellaneous Petition filed under Section 151 CPC to grant an order of ad interim stay of the operation of the order dated 21.03.2025 passed in W.P.No.32351 of 2022 pending disposal of the writ appeal.
For Appellants : Mrs.Dakshayani Reddy, Senior Counsel for Ms.K.Indu Priya
For R1 : Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram, Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma
For RR2 to 5 : Mr.P.S.Raman, Advocate General
Assisted by Mrs.Mythreye Chandru
Special Government Pleader RR6 to 92 : Given up
O R D E R
[Made by R.SURESH KUMAR, J.]
In fact, the main writ appeal i.e., W.A.No.2619 of 2025 arises out of the order passed in W.P.No.32351 of 2022 along with W.P.Nos.9011 of 2022, W.P.Nos.903 and 9023 of 2023 and W.P.Nos.16897, 25645, 32612 of 2024.
2. In fact, it was a common order dated 21.03.2025 passed in those seven writ petitions by the writ Court, whereby, the main issue that was posed for consideration before the writ Court was resolved to the extent as to how the 2% vacancies that are meant for the Ministerial staff (non-teaching staff) as per the Special Rules for the Tamil Nadu School Educational Subordinate Service, for appointment to the post of B.T. Assistant as well as P.G. Assistant in Government Schools from the year 2007-2008 to 2024-2025, has to be executed.
3. Ultimately, the writ Court, in its order dated 21.03.2025, which is impugned herein, has issued the following directions :
“27. In the light of the above discussion, all these writ petitions are disposed of with a direction to the State Government and the Directorate of School Education to take immediate steps to fill up the vacancies under the 2% category, both in the posts of B.T. Assistant/Graduate Teachers and P.G. Assistant from among the eligible candidates by drawing a panel for each year starting from 2007-2008 and to issue appropriate orders within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The remaining vacancies in the posts of B.T. Assistant/Graduate Teacher shall be filled up by direct recruitment as per the selection done under the notification issued by the Teachers Recruitment Board. The Teachers Recruitment Board has already completed the selection process and hence, the Board shall forward the list of selected candidates to the respective user Departments forthwith. Such appointment orders shall be issued after the completion of filling up of vacancies under the 2% category for the posts of B.T. Assistant/Graduate Teacher. Connected W.M.Ps. stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs.”
4. It is to be noted that insofar as the posts of B.T. Assistants and P.G. Assistants i.e., Teachers in B.T. Assistant level and P.G. Assistant level to be filled in Government schools in the State of Tamil Nadu is concerned, the vacancies are filled up under the following methods i.e., 50% by direct recruitment and the remaining 50% by way of promotion.
5. At one point of time, i.e., in the year 2007, the Government came out with a policy decision which is reflected in G.O.Ms.No.175, School Education Department, dated 19.07.2007 (in short “GO.175”), under which the Government decided to reserve 2% of vacancies earmarked for promotion category for the post of Graduate Teacher as well as Tamil Pandit for Ministerial staff (i.e., non-teaching staff) working in various departments of the State, provided they fulfill the educational qualification for holding the said post.
6. By virtue of GO.175, the special rule since has been issued under Article 309 of the Constitution of India, providing 2% reservation, the number of posts also being 2% under the category of Tamil Pandit as well as Graduate Teacher having been identified was mentioned in the GO.175 itself.
7. Though such a policy decision was taken and the 2% reservation was given for the Ministerial staff, for several years the vacancies were not identified for filling up the 2% vacancies from among the eligible candidates of Ministerial staff.
8. However, after some years, the vacancies to a considerable extent, seems to have been identified and calculated and accordingly, the eligible persons were selected and appointed by way of transfer from the Ministerial staff, is the stand taken by the School Education Department/Government.
9. However, it is the grievance of those Ministerial staff working in various Departments that the vacancies from the academic year 2007-2008 have not been properly calculated and thus since vacancies have not been filed up for several years, the eligible Ministerial staff got stagnated without getting the post of Graduate Teacher or Tamil Pandit, as the case may be, in spite of having the requisite qualification to hold the said post.
10. Only under the said circumstances, these Ministerial staff who are many in numbers joined together and filed the aforestated writ petitions, seeking from the writ Court, a writ of mandamus to implement Rule 2 dealing with appointment to the post of Graduate Teacher under the category of recruitment by transfer under the Special Rules for the Tamil Nadu School
Educational Subordinate Service issued vide G.O.Ms.No.13, School Education (S.E.3 (1), dated 30.01.2020 (in short “GO.13”).
11. In this context, it is to be noted that even though the rule was first introduced by issuance of GO.175, subsequently, a Government Order was issued i.e., GO.13, by which an amendment was made to the Special Rules, whereby, as per the first proviso to Class III under the heading Graduate
Teacher (English), the percentage has been fixed as follows :
“Provided that the appointments
(i) by direct recruitment
(ii) by promotion from any other post
(iii) by recruitment by transfer shall be made in the ratio of 50% : 48% : 2%.”
By the aforesaid amendment, the percentage of vacancies among these three categories are to be distributed as stated in the said proviso, thereby, 50% of the total vacancies would go for direct recruits, with regard to remaining 50%, 48% would go to the promotees and the remaining 2% would go to the Ministerial staff for getting appointment by way of transfer.
12. Here, a question arises as to whether this amendment which has been made pursuant to GO.13 will have a prospective effect or it will have a retrospective effect also.
13. In this context, it is the case of the Ministerial staff who filed those writ petitions that the amendment made under GO.13 will have retrospective effect right from 2007-2008. Therefore, the 2% vacancy shall be calculated from the entire 100%, based on which, the vacancies were to be earmarked and filled up from among the eligible candidates from the Ministerial staff.
14. In this context, the learned writ Court, at paragraph 27 of the impugned order extracted above, had given a direction to the State Government i.e., Directorate of School Education, to take immediate steps to fill up the vacancies under the 2% category, both in the posts of B.T. Assistant/Graduate Teachers as well as P.G. Assistants from among the eligible candidates by drawing a panel for each year starting from 2007-2008 and to issue appropriate orders within a period of six weeks.
15. A further rider has been made at said paragraph 27 of the order impugned that, since the remaining vacancies shall be filled up by direct recruitment as per the selection done already by the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB), pursuant to the notification issued in this regard and the TRB since has already completed the selection process, the TRB shall forward the list of selected candidates to the respective user Departments forthwith. However, such appointment orders to the direct recruits shall be issued after the completion of filling up of vacancies under the 2% category for the post of B.T. Assistant/P.G. Assistant.
16. This condition imposed by the learned Judge in the last leg of paragraph 27 of the impugned order has now created a controversy, where, the direct recruits who have already undergone the selection process made by the TRB have been selected by way of competitive selection method and the lists also were directed to be drawn and to be forwarded to the user Departments for necessary appointment, however, the appointment is now stayed or halted, unless the 2% Ministerial staff quota is completely identified and filled up by the Departments.
17. By virtue of this direction issued by the learned Judge through the impugned order, the present appellants who are respondents in the writ petitions who are all the candidates competed in the competitive selection process conducted by the TRB and have been selected and they are waiting for the appointment orders.
18. However, by virtue of this direction given at paragraph 27 of the impugned order, the appointment orders to be given to these candidates are getting delayed as they are going to be appointed only in the 50% quota earmarked for direct recruits, which, in no way, is going to hamper the prospects of the promotees i.e., either the promotees from the same Department or by way of transfer of 2% of the Ministerial staff. Therefore, these direct recruits/selectees have joined together and filed this writ appeal challenging the directions given in this regard by the writ Court as discussed supra.
19. Heard Mrs.Dakshayani Reddy, learned Senior Counsel, appearing on behalf of the appellants, Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram, learned Senior Counsel, appearing on behalf of the 1st respondent and Mr.P.S.Raman, learned Advocate General, assisted by Mrs.Mythreye Chandru, learned Special Government Pleader, appearing on behalf of the respondents 2 to 5/State and Department.
20. Pursuant to the direction given by us in the earlier hearing, the
Department has filed a Status Report dated 28.08.2025, where, inter alia, the Joint Director of School Education (Personnel) has stated that, the total vacancies calculated from the years 2007-2008 to 2013-2014 would be 220. Like that, the vacancies arising under the 2% category for the academic years 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 would be 32. Insofar as the academic years 2017-2018 to 2022-2023, due to pre and post COVID 19 pandemic periods, as excess teachers were working, the Department found that there has been no vacancy under the category and insofar as the academic years 20232024 and 2024-2025, the vacancies were found as 119.
21. By relying upon this report, the learned Advocate General would contend that the 220 vacancies identified from 2007 to 2014, were already filled up by eligible candidates from the Ministerial staff. Thereafter, recently, 32 vacancies were identified from 2014 to 2017 and 119 vacancies were identified from 2023 to 2025 and those vacancies numbering 151 (32 +119) were also filled up. Therefore, the learned Advocate General would contend that insofar as the 2% quota is concerned, entire vacancies were identified and filled up. Therefore, the Ministerial staff may not have any grievance insofar as the erstwhile years till the last academic year that their quota of 2% have not been calculated and filled up.
22. However, in this context, there yet another controversy that arises i.e., as to whether the 2% vacancy shall be calculated from 50% promotees quota or the entire 100% vacancies which includes 50% direct recruits as well as 50% promotees quota.
23. In this context, even though some preliminary arguments were advanced by the learned Advocate General by relying on GO.175 as well as GO.13 under which present amendment has been made w.e.f. 30.01.2020, if at all, pursuant to the amendment that has been made by virtue of GO.13, if the vacancies are to be calculated as 50% : 48% : 2% among these three categories, that shall have a prospective effect i.e., from the academic year 2020-2021 and not prior to that. Therefore, at least upto the academic year 2019-2020, the vacancies must be calculated only from 50% promotees quota by virtue of the prescription made under GO.175 which has been followed by the Department as well as the State, the learned Advocate General contended.
24. Be that as it may, whether the 2% has to be calculated from the 50% promotees quota or the entire 100% vacancies, is the main issue to be decided in the present lis, where it is submitted by the learned Advocate General that the Government has preferred writ appeals challenging the order passed by the writ Court.
25. The learned Advocate General would also submit that if those writ appeals are clubbed together with the present writ appeal and a decision is made on the said issue of formulating 50%, by giving an interpretation to GO.175 as well as GO.13, that will give a quietus to the issue. But, till such time, the selectees who are waiting for getting appointment under direct recruitment quota have been unnecessarily halted, because of the last leg of the direction given by the learned Judge at paragraph 27 of the impugned order. If that is the grievance of the appellants, the same grievance is expressed by the State also in their appeals which are coming up for admission within a day or two.
26. The learned Advocate General as well as the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellants would submit that insofar as 50% quota earmarked for direct recruits are concerned, it will in no way overlap the 50% quota of the promotees and thereby, if at all, any higher number of vacancies are to be identified, by taking into account of the 100% vacancy, even then, the vacancies would be made double for the 2% Ministerial staff from the academic year 2020-2021 and insofar as till the academic year 2019-2020, the position would not get changed.
27. Whatever be the ultimate decision to be taken by this Court as submitted by the learned Advocate General as well as the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellants for that 2% vacancy, that will not have any impact on the filling up of the vacancies under direct recruitment quota i.e., 50% for which the selection process has already been completed by the TRB and the lists also were directed to be prepared and sent to the respective user Departments. When that is the position, the unnecessary halting of the issuance of posting orders to the selected candidates from the direct recruitment quota is thoroughly unwarranted and unnecessary. Therefore, we feel that the order passed by the learned Judge requires a slight modification by way of an interim order. Accordingly, the following interim order is passed:
i. There shall be a direction to the TRB to send a list of selectees, pursuant to the selection process which was already completed for 50% of vacancies under direct
recruitment quota and if the list is already sent, on receipt of the list of selectees, the appointing authority viz., the State Government or the Directorate of School Education, shall issue appointment orders by strictly following the rule of reservation.
ii. The appointment now made for the direct recruits would no way take away the rights of the 2% Ministerial staff quota or the promotees quota and the calculation of 2% of the Ministerial staff, since would be decided at the time of final hearing of this appeal as well as the appeals to be filed by the Government, that issue is left open for the present.
The impugned order to that extent is modified for the present by way of this interim order.
28. The learned Advocate General submitted that the posting orders can be made ready and issued to the selectees immediately. In view of the fact that vacancies have been lingering for a long time in various schools, as per the present order, the State Government as well as the Directorate of School Education can act upon immediately and the copy of the order would be uploaded by tomorrow.
29. Post this writ appeal after two weeks for final hearing.

[R.S.K., J.] [H.C., J.]
01.09.2025
gya
To be uploaded forthwith 
To
1.The Principal Secretary to Government
State of Tamil Nadu
School Education Department Fort St. George, Chennai-9
2.The Commissioner of School Education DPI Campus, College Road, Chennai-6
3.The Joint Director of School Education
(Personnel), (Higher Secondary Education)
Directorate of School Education
DPI Campus, College Road, Chennai-6
4.The Joint Director of School Education
(Personnel), (High School Education)
Directorate of School Education
DPI Campus, College Road, Chennai-6
R.SURESH KUMAR, J.
AND HEMANT CHANDANGOUDAR, J.
gya W.A.No.2619 of 2025
01.09.2025