ORDER :

[Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Certiorarified Mandamus, calling for the records of the first respondent bearing G.O.Ms.No.23, Higher Education (I2) Department, dated 25.01.2018 to quash the same insofar as non inclusion of the name of the petitioner above Mr.E.M.Srinivasan in the 28th place and consequently direct the first respondent to incorporate the petitioner name in Serial No.28 in the seniority list above Mr.E.M.Srinivasan for the post of Principal in order to get promotion to the post of Upgraded Senior Lecturer with effect from 03.02.1999, upgraded Head of Department with effect from 03.02.2009 and Principal with effect from 25.01.2018 respectively.]

1. Heard Mr.A.R.Suresh, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.T.Chezhiyan, learned Additional Government Pleader for the respondents 1 to 3.

2. The brief facts of the case are as follows:-

2.1. The petitioner herein was originally inducted as an Instructor under the official respondents/Government Polytechnic College on contract basis, with one artificial break between every academic year. The post of Instructor was redesigned thereafter as 'Lecturer'.

2.2. Through G.O.Ms.No.334, Education, Science and Technology (I2) Department, dated 28.04.1995, the services of the petitioner and similarly placed lecturers were regularised with effect from the date of the said Government Order i.e., on 28.04.1995. The respondents 4 and 5 were also regularised through the same Government Order and were placed in the ranks below the petitioner in the seniority list. Since the petitioner claimed regularisation from the date of his initial appointment i.e., from 21.12.1990, he had preferred applications in O.A.Nos.1485 to 1489 of 2004 and by an order dated 06.04.2004, the Tamil Nadu Administrative Tribunal, Chennai (hereinafter referred to as “Tribunal”) had declared the entitlement of the petitioner and others for regularisation of their services from the date of their initial appointments. Though the order of the Tribunal had become final, the Government had not implemented the order immediately and ultimately on 19.01.2012, G.O.Ms.No.6, Higher Education (I2), dated 19.01.2012 came to be passed, regularising the services of the petitioner from the date of his initial appointment. In the said Government Order, the Government had also advised the Director of Technical Education (DOTE) to forward and submit a requisition seeking for condonation of the artificial break in the services of the petitioner during his contract period. Though DOTE had sent their recommendations on 28.01.2015, 14.03.2016, 30.07.2016 & 30.08.2017, seeking for condonation of the break in services of the petitioner, the same was considered only on 24.11.2017 through G.O.Ms.No.338, Higher Education (I2), dated 24.11.2017.

2.3. It is the case of the petitioner that in view of the inordinate delay on the part of the Government in considering the Tribunal's order dated 06.04.2004, for regularising the petitioner's services from the date of his initial appointment, he was deprived of the promotion to the posts of Senior Lecturer, Head of the Department (HoD) and Principal.

2.4. When the regular approved panel for the year 2017-18 for the post of Principal was prepared through G.O.Ms.No.22, Higher Education (I2) Department, dated 25.01.2018, the petitioner's name was omitted therein. In the same G.O.Ms.No.22, liberty was granted to the HoDs/UGHoDs, whose names were not included in the regular panel for the post of Principal in Government Polytechnic Colleges for the year 2017-18, for preferring an appeal for inclusion of their names within two months from the date of issue of the panel as per Section 45 of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016. However, on the same day, another Government Order in G.O.Ms.No.23, Higher Education (I2) Department, dated 25.01.2018, came to be passed, granting promotions and postings to 30 HoDs/U