C.Kaviarasan v. Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 10.06.2026
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE S. M. SUBRAMANIAM AND THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE N.SENTHILKUMAR and W.M.P.Nos.8000, 8003, 8006, 8008, 10041 & 10043 of 2025 W.P.No.7201 of 2025 1.
C.Kaviarasan S/o.A.Chandran 2.
S.Jayalakshmi S/o.J.Senthilvelliangiri 3.
S.Maheswari W/o.C.Lakshmanan 4.
S.Kumaresan S/o.Subramanian 5.
V.Mahesh S/o.Venkatachalam 6.
M.Lathika D/o.K.Pachaiyappan 7.
A.Vignesh Kumar S/o.M.Arumugam Page Nos.1/9
8.
V.Senthil Kumar S/o.Venkataraman 9.
S.Arunkumar S/o.K.Sambandan 10.
M.Saranya W/o.Tamil Selvam 11.
S.Sundaramoorthy S/o.S.Sankaralingam 12.
R.Shalini D/o.B.Rajasekaran 13.
R.Karuppasamy S/o.A.Rengaraj ... Petitioners vs.
Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority Represented by its Member Secretary North Fort Road, High Court Campus Chennai-600 104.
... Respondent Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records in TNSLSA No.718/E/2025 dated 21.02.2025 and quash the same.
W.P.No.7204 of 2025 1.
V.Chetan Kumar S/o.M.Velmurugan 2.
S.Balaji S/o.V.Shanmugam ... Petitioners Page Nos.2/9
vs.
Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority Represented by its Member Secretary North Fort Road, High Court Campus Chennai-600 104.
... Respondent Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records in TNSLSA No.720/E/2025 dated 21.02.2025 and quash the same insofar as the petitioners are concerned.
W.P.No.8935 of 2025 P.Jayanthi S/o.Sivaraj ... Petitioner vs.
Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority Represented by its Member Secretary North Fort Road, High Court Campus Chennai-600 104.
... Respondent Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records in TNSLSA No.720/E/2025 dated 21.02.2025 and quash the same insofar as the petitioners are concerned.
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For Petitioners in all WPs :
Mr.V.Vijay Shankar For Respondents in all WPs :
Mr.E.V.Chandru @ E.Chandrasekaran ***** C O M M O N O R D E R [Made by S.M.SUBRAMANIAM, J.,] These writ petitions have been instituted challenging the proceedings of the Member Secretary, Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority, Chennai [hereinafter "TNSLSA" for the sake of brevity] dated 21.02.2025.
2. The petitioners were initially appointed as Junior Administrative Assistants on a consolidated pay of Rs.22,500/- per month in various departments under TNSLSA. Appointment orders were issued in the years 2021 and 2023. Subsequently, within one year from the date of appointment on consolidated pay, orders of appointment issued to petitioners during the years 2021 and 2023. The appointments are purely temporary and liable to be terminated without assigning any reason at any Page Nos.4/9
time. Admittedly, the petitioners were not appointed by undergoing the selection process, nor their probation was declared. Thus, appointment is illegal and in violation of service Rules in force.
3. The petitioners were initially appointed on consolidated pay and continued as temporary employees. Litigations were instituted by the employees serving in the cadre of Office Assistants seeking promotion on the ground that the writ petitioners were not appointed in accordance with the recruitment rules in force, nor had they undergone the selection process. The appointments of the petitioners were made in violation of the service rules and were illegal appointments. Such illegal appointments made in the TNSLSA would result in the denial of promotion to the employees who were already serving in Group IV services and thus, further litigations were instituted.
4. The Division Bench of Madras High Court elaborately considered the issues relating to the illegal appointments of the employees in the TNSLSA to the post of Junior Administrative Assistants and delivered a judgment on 24.07.2024 in W.P.No.7087 of 2023, based on the judgment of the Constitution Bench of Hon'ble Supreme Court as well as the Page Nos.5/9
judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court on judicial services. Hon'ble Apex Court confirmed the order of the Division Bench of Madras High Court dated 24.07.2024 in SLP(C)D.No.38375 of 2024 dated 06.09.2024. In implementation of the order of the Division Bench, as confirmed by Hon'ble Supreme Court, the committee of TNSLSA passed an order on 18.02.2025 which is the basis for the issuance of impugned orders dated 21.02.2025. The orders impugned are self speaking and would show that the respondents have implemented the orders of the Division Bench of Madras High Court as confirmed by Hon'ble Supreme Court.
5. Pertinently, the post of Junior Administrative Assistants falls under the TNSLSA purview. Therefore, the posts are to be filled up through an open competitive process and by following the selection procedures. Admittedly, the post of the Junior Administrative Assistants were filled up by engaging employees on consolidated pay and thereafter, within a period of one year, those employees were engaged as temporary Junior Administrative Assistants. The manner in which these appointments were made would be sufficient to form an opinion that the appointments are not made in accordance with law. The allegation raised by the other employees working in the TNSLSA is that these kinds of appointments Page Nos.6/9
would result in denial of promotional opportunities to the other employees waiting for their turn to secure promotion. That apart, such illegal appointments are made mostly based on favoritism and on extraneous considerations. If public appointments are made in such a manner, it would not only result in unconstitutionality but would also infringe the rights of lakhs and lakhs of meritorious youth who all are longing to secure public employment through open competitive process, either as general candidates or under the rule of reservation. If such a magnitude of unconstitutionality is allowed to prevail, the consequences would be disastrous and faith in the system would be completely eroded.
6. The learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that the petitioners may be permitted to participate in the ensuing selection process, if any, notified by the respondents. Absolutely, there is no impediment for the petitioners to participate in the process of recruitment, if any, notified by TNSLSA. However, the submission of learned counsel for the petitioners to engage the petitioners again on temporary basis, if permitted, would result in violation of the judgment of the Division Bench of Madras High Court as confirmed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.
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7. With the above observations, the Writ Petitions stand dismissed. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed. There shall be no order as to costs.
(S.M.S.,J.) (N.S.,J.) 10.06.2026 Index : Yes Speaking order mk To Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority Represented by its Member Secretary North Fort Road, High Court Campus Chennai-600 104.
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S. M. SUBRAMANIAM, J., and N.SENTHILKUMAR, J., mk 10.06.2026 (2/2) Page Nos.9/9