HC direction on plea by ex-TANGEDCO apprentices

The Madras High Court has directed around 80 petitioners, who worked as apprentices in state-owned power utility TANGEDCO, to appear for the January 31 examination to conducted by it for the post of Assistant Engineers but ordered that the results be kept on hold till February 16.
Justice K. Kalyanasundaram passed the interim order on a batch of petitions challenging the December 28, 2015 notification issued by TANGEDCO requiring the petitioners to undergo the written examination for selection to the posts.
The judge, however, restrained the authorities from declaring the results of the examination till February 16.
He issued notice to TANGEDCO and the Chairman Board of Apprenticeship Training, Southern Region, Chennai.

Petitioners, who worked as apprentices from 2010-15, submitted that under the guise of implementing a high court judgement, TANGEDCO has changed the pattern of selection by advertising for the post and calling for applications.
They contended that the new pattern of selection cannot be made applicable to former apprentices of TANGEDCO as per the amended provision of Section 22 of Apprentices Act which allows employers to formulate their own policy for recruiting any apprentice who had completed the period of apprenticeship training in their establishments.
The petitioners further claimed that TANGEDCO without taking any steps to formulate a scheme for recruiting ex-apprentices had now changed the policy for recruitment.

Hence they pleaded with the court to declare the notification illegal and also to direct TANGEDCO to formulate the scheme as per the amendment.