'Stay on proceedings if selection of lab assts made excluding

: Holding that the need of the hour was fair and transparent recruitment to public employment, Madras High Court today made it clear that there would be a stay of further proceedings if selection for Lab Assistants posts are made excluding the written examination marks.
Justice D Hariparanthaman who passed orders on petitions challenging the recruitment, pursuant to the April 22 2015 notification of Director of School Education and miscellaneous petitions seeking a stay on all further proceedings, said excluding marks in the written exam for final selection was not fair and was illegal and arbitrary.
He directed the authorities to empanel candidates based on marks in the written exam, weightage of marks for employment exchange seniority, acquisition of higher qualification and past experience, based on which the selection could be made.

The June 22 notification called for applications to fill up 4,385 vacancies to the post of Laboratory Assistant in Government High Schools/higher Secondary Schools in each district. It prescribes the age, educational qualification and other eligibility conditions, including method of selection.
The petitioners challenged the selection method, which excluded marks in the written exam for final selection. They also contended that district-wise selection was bad and illegal in view of the categorical High Court judgements.
They submitted that even if interview was permitted as a special case for this recruitment, exclusion of marks in the written exam for final selection is totally illegal.

The judge said one could take judicial note of what was happening around in the country and news of recruitment scams and big personalities behind bars, pursuant to punishment imposed by courts. Currently the Apex Court is monitoring probe into the Vyapam recruitment scam.

The Judge while referring to the SC directions in the latest case, said even in the written exam conducted by CBSE for medical examination, the Apex Court had intervened and set it aside. Thereafter, re-examination was ordered and stringent conditions imposed to ensure fair and transparent admissions.
Therefore, the need of the hour is fair and transparent recruitment to public employment.Interview based Recruitments always causes some suspicion in minds of people, but cannot be dispensed with in recruitment to higher posts, where there was need for Personality Assessment. But doing the same for lower lower posts was illegal and totally unnecessary, he said.

The Judge said he was inclined to grant stay of further proceedings if the authorities hold the selection by excluding the marks obtained in the written exam.
He made it clear that if the authorities proceed with the process as per the selection mode suggested, they were at liberty to proceed with the selection process.
He rejected district wise selection and allowed it as one time measure and said all future selections shall be made only in the State wide selection process.