IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 03.12.2025

CORAM:

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE R.SURESH KUMAR

AND

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V. LAKSHMINARAYANAN

W.A.No.3430 of 2025 & CMP.No.28051 of 2025

1.The Chairman,

TANGEDCO,

NPKRR Maligai,

No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai – 600 002.

2.The Chief Engineer (Personnel),

TANGEDCO,

NPKRR Maligai,

No.144, Anna Salai,

Chennai – 600 002. ... Appellants

Vs.

M.Karthikeyan ... Respondent

PRAYER: Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent to

set aside the order dated 02.06.2025 passed in W.P.No.5283 of 2025.

For Appellants :Mr.Anand Gopalan for

M/s.Advit Law Chambers

JUDGMENT

(JUDGMENT MADE BY V.LAKSHMINARAYANAN, J.)

The appellants are the respondents in the writ petition.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties shall be referred to as per their ranks in the writ petition.

3. The petitioner approached this court seeking of a Mandamus, to direct the respondents to select and appoint him to the post of Gangman on par with other candidates appointed, pursuant to the notification No.1 of 2019 dated 07.03.2019 issued by the respondents.

4. The respondents had issued a notification on 07.03.2019. It was for the purpose of selecting 5000 persons to the post of Gangman. The petitioner, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, had applied for the said post. He had completed his education up to 11^th standard and had failed in his 12^th standard examination. He stated that he had secured 65 marks in the written examination conducted by the respondents and had also cleared the physical fitness test. Though he had been waiting for the appointment order, he had not been issued the same.

5. The petitioner alleged that, certain candidates, who had secured “zero” mark in the written examination, had been appointed as Gangman, whereas, the petitioner, who had obtained 65 marks and belonging to the PSTM category (Person who studied in Tamil Medium), had not been considered. He pleaded that failure to appoint him is arbitrary and, hence, sought for the aforesaid relief.

6. This court entertained this writ petition and issued notice to the respondents.

7. The respondents filed a counter affidavit opposing the writ petition.

8. The respondents admitted that the petitioner had participated in the physical fitness test and had also cleared the written examination with 65 marks. It stated that the petitioner had secured a rank card of 8543. It alleged that, although the petitioner applied under the Scheduled Caste - PSTM quota, had not produced the requisite certificates at the time of verification, and hence, he was considered only under the Scheduled Caste (General) category. Under the Scheduled Caste (General) category, the last selected candidate had secured rank of 8350 but the petitioner having secured with 8543 rank, he was not selected. It was further stated that the number of vacancies were 10,000 and 9,613 persons were recruited and the remaining 387 vacancies could not be filled up, due to non availability of candidates under the Differently Abled category. It pleaded that the writ deserves to be dismissed as the petitioner had not produced the certificates.

9. The petitioner filed a reply affidavit to the counter. He stated that on 07.09.2019, he was called for certificate verification, during which, he had produced all the requisite certificates to claim that he belongs to Scheduled Caste and was entitled to considered under PSTM reservation. It was only thereafter, that the checklist was filled up by the respondents on the official website. After being satisfied with the petitioner’s claim under the SC-PSTM category, he was permitted to attend the physical fitness test on the very same day. After he had cleared the physical fitness test, a hall ticket was issued for the written examination held on 15.03.2020. He asserted that the contention of the respondents, that the petitioner had not produced the PSTM certificate, is false, as is clear from the checklist, maintained by the respondents.

10. To the reply affid