PRAYER: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to call for the records relating to the impugned Provisional Selection List issued by the 3rd respondent in PSL No.08/MRB/2022, dated 04.11.2022 and the consequent impugned order passed by the second respondent in Ref.No. 6177/E5/1/2023, dated 14.02.2023 and to quash the same and consequently direct the respondents to include the name of the petitioners in the selection list for appointment to the post of Dark Room Assistant, based on the marks secured by the petitioners in the selection by reckoning CRA candidates with or without science in Higher Secondary Course as single category in accordance with Special Rules for Tamil Nadu Medical Subordinate Service as amended.

For Petitioners : Mr.K.Navaneetharaja

For R1 and R2 : Mr.B.Ramanathan

For R3 : Mr.V.Ramesh

ORDER

This Writ Petition has been filed challenging the impugned provisional selection list issued by the 3rd respondent in PSL No. 08/MRB/2022, dated 04.11.2022 and the consequential impugned order passed by the second respondent in Ref. No.6177/E5/1/2023, dated 14.02.2023 and to quash the same. The petitioners also seek a consequential direction to the respondents to include their names in the selection list for appointment to the post of Dark Room Assistant, based on the marks secured by them in the selection process, by reckoning candidates possessing Certificate of Radiological Assistant (CRA) with or without science in the Higher Secondary Course as a single category, in accordance with the Special Rules for Tamil Nadu Medical Subordinate Service as amended.

2. All the five petitioners participated in the recruitment process conducted by the 3rd respondent for filling up the post of Dark Room Assistant pursuant to the notification dated 16.03.2022. In terms of the said notification read with the rules governing the post and G.O.(Ms) No. 385, Health and Family Welfare Department, dated 27.08.2021, candidates possessing a Certificate of Dark Room Assistant with Higher Secondary Course (HSC) qualification are eligible. As per the proviso to the prescribed qualifications, in the absence of candidates possessing a Certificate of Dark Room Assistant, candidates possessing a Certificate of Radiological Assistant with HSC qualification, with or without science, are also eligible for appointment.

3. In the present case, since candidates possessing a Certificate of Dark Room Assistant were not available, the petitioners, who possess Certificates of Radiological Assistant with HSC qualification, with or without science, are eligible to be considered. In the said recruitment process, the petitioners secured the following marks:

4. However, the 3rd respondent, instead of selecting the petitioners based on merit, excluded them from the recruitment process on the ground that they had not studied science subjects in the Higher Secondary Course. The recruitment was confined only to candidates possessing a Certificate of Radiological Assistant with science subjects in HSC. Consequently, candidates who secured lesser marks than the petitioners in the respective categories were provisionally selected through the impugned provisional selection list dated 04.11.2022. Aggrieved by the same, as well as the subsequent clarification issued by the second respondent in Ref. No.6177/E5/1/2023, dated 14.02.2023, the present Writ Petition has been filed.

5. Through the proceedings dated 14.02.2023, the second respondent clarified that the candidates possessing science subjects in HSC should be preferred over candidates possessing CRA with HSC without science subjects. An identical issue came up for consideration before a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in W.P.(MD) No.1381 of 2023, which was disposed of by order dated 11.04.2023, holding that the total exclusion of candidates possessing CRA with HSC without science subjec