Chennai: The Madras High Court has ordered that eligible employees in the Revenue Department across Tamil Nadu may be granted promotion to the post of Deputy Tahsildar on the basis of the amended rule, while clarifying that such promotions will be subject to the final verdict in the case.
In connection with promotions to the post of Deputy Tahsildar in the Tamil Nadu Revenue and Disaster Management Department, cases filed by R. Thirumalai, S. Gopalakrishnan and others challenging the amendment made to the Tamil Nadu Revenue Subordinate Service Rules have been filed in the Madras High Court and are pending.
In this situation, intervention petitions were filed seeking an interim stay order to prevent the government from interfering against their seniority.
Those petitions came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices S.M. Subramaniam and Krishnasamy Govindarajan.
At that time, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, Advocate General Vijay Narayan argued that, “The interim order in the main cases directing that the status quo be maintained has created administrative difficulties in granting promotions to the post of Deputy Tahsildar in the Revenue Department.”
He also argued that, since the post of Deputy Tahsildar in the Revenue Department is an important one, leaving it vacant would affect Tamil Nadu’s revenue administration.
On behalf of the petitioner revenue department employees, the lawyers appearing said, “By the retrospective order in Government Order No. 65 issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management Department on February 27, 2024, revenue department employees have been pushed back to a prior position.
If they are sent back to the old position, the service benefits of the employees will be affected. Demotion will affect future prospects for promotion to the post of Tahsildar,” they explained.
The judges then ordered, “In order to protect the promotions granted to employees before the amended rules were issued in the government order, and to ensure the smooth functioning of revenue administration, it is necessary for the court to adopt a balanced approach.
Accordingly, assistants who had already been promoted as deputy tahsildars before the revised rules were issued will not be sent back to lower posts. Promotions may be granted to eligible employees on the basis of the revised rule. However, it must be stated in the promotion order that they are subject to the final outcome of these cases,’ the judges said, disposing of the interim petitions.
The judges also adjourned the hearing on the main cases for two weeks.