Tamil Nadu Generation And Distribution Corporation Ltd v. M.Murugesan
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 06.04.2026
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE S. M. SUBRAMANIAM AND THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE K. SURENDER and C.M.P.Nos.22348, 18449, 18806, 18808, 20024, 20025 of 2022, 504, 512, 561, 563, 576 of 2023 and W.P.No.5906 of 2021 and W.M.P.No.6521 of 2021 W.A.Nos.2751 of 2022 Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
... Appellant vs.
1.
M.Murugesan S/o.Muniyasamy 2.
S.Vijaya Prapakaran S/o.A.Selvaraj 3.
G.A.Kubendran S/o.G.R.Ayyaan 4.
M.Jegadesh S/o. S.Muthuraj Page Nos.1/34
5.
M.Selvaraj S/o.K.Muniyandi 6.
S.Sankar Raj S/o.G.Subburaj 7.
P.Manojkumar S/o.M.Palanisamy 8.
S.Muthupandi S/o.K.Sappani 9.
M.Selvapandi S/o.G.Mariappan 10.
J.Uthirapathi S/o.Jayabal 11.
R.Arulmurugan S/o.M.Rengasamy 12.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
13.
T.Karthik 14.
S.Ranjith 15.
K.G.Manindher 16.
Layola Francis Ebinezen 17.
V.Parthasarathi 18.
M.Viswanath 19.
G.Manthiramoorthi Page Nos.2/34
20.
Balaji Durai 21.
K.Theivasikamani 22.
G.Gopalakrishnan 23.
A.Vimal 24.
Sureshbabu Kaniyappan 25.
E.Prem Babu 26.
B.Prabhakaran 27.
Gopal Subramanian 28.
C.Prakash 29.
M.Arun 30.
R.Manicka Selvam 31.
M.Ramachandran 32.
R.Suriyamohan ... Respondents Writ Appeal No.2751 of 2022 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.10639 of 2020.
For Appellant :
Mr.Anandh Gopalan M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co For Respondents :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi, for R1 and R2 ***** Page Nos.3/34
W.A.Nos.53 of 2023 Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
... Appellant vs.
1.
M.Murugesan S/o.Muniyasamy 2.
S.Vijaya Prapakaran S/o.A.Selvaraj 3.
G.A.Kubendran S/o.G.R.Ayyaan 4.
M.Jegadesh S/o. S.Muthuraj 5.
M.Selvaraj S/o.K.Muniyandi 6.
S.Sankar Raj S/o.G.Subburaj 7.
P.Manojkumar S/o.M.Palanisamy 8.
S.Muthupandi S/o.K.Sappani 9.
M.Selvapandi S/o.G.Mariappan 10.
J.Uthirapathi S/o.Jayabal Page Nos.4/34
11.
R.Arulmurugan S/o.M.Rengasamy 12.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
13.
T.Karthik 14.
S.Ranjith 15.
K.G.Manindher 16.
Layola Francis Ebinezen 17.
V.Parthasarathi 18.
M.Viswanath 19.
G.Manthiramoorthi 20.
Balaji Durai 21.
K.Theivasikamani 22.
G.Gopalakrishnan 23.
A.Vimal 24.
Sureshbabu Kaniyappan 25.
E.Prem Babu 26.
B.Prabhakaran 27.
Gopal Subramanian Page Nos.5/34
28.
C.Prakash 29.
M.Arun 30.
R.Manicka Selvam 31.
M.Ramachandran 32.
R.Suriyamohan ... Respondents Writ Appeal No.53 of 2023 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.10646 of 2020.
For Appellant :
Mr.Anandh Gopalan M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co For Respondents :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi, for R1 and R2 ***** W.A.No.54 of 2023 1.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chairman No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
2.
The Chief Engineer / Personnel Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
... Appellants vs.
1.
G.Rajesh S/o.C.George Page Nos.6/34
2.
R.Muththarasu S/o.R.Ranganathan 3.
G.Ramesh S/o. (Late) S.Ganapathy 4.
S.Kangaraj S/o.P.Selvaraj 5.
T.Tamilmaran S/o.Thiraviam 6.
K.Sangeetha S/o.P.Kathirvel 7.
H.Yuvashree D/o.L.Hanumantharajan 8.
C.Rajasekar S/o.M.Chelladurai 9.
V.Veeramani S/o.S.Varatharajan 10.
A.Vincent Vijayakumar S/o.S.Arokiasamy 11.
S.Jahir Hussain S/o.S.Sherfudeen 12.
P.Kanagaraj S/o.K.Palanisamy 13.
G.Sangeeth D/o.G.Gnanasekaran 14.
K.Prakash S/o.Kaligounder Page Nos.7/34
15.
The State of Tamil Nadu Represented by Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
16.
A.Kaliyamoorthi 17.
S.Gowri 18.
T.Mahadevan 19.
A.Vaitheeswari 20.
T.Rajasekar 21.
M.Kamalakannan 22.
S.Dharamaraj 23.
G.Sivakala 24.
N.Dhasarathan 25.
S.Balamurugan Shanmugam 26.
S.Narayanan 27.
I.Gopalakrishnan 28.
P.Arul Pandiyan 29.
R.Gowthami 30.
S.Maheswari 31.
N.Dhakshnamoorthy 32.
P.Muthaiya Page Nos.8/34
33.
M.Maheshwari 34.
P.Anandaraj 35.
Santhana Karuppasamy Govindaraj 36.
K.Sathish Kumar 37.
S.Ponraj 38.
R.Ramdass 39.
T.Saravanan 40.
L.Arivazhagan 41.
Nagendiran B 42.
P.Kathiresan 43.
Deenath I 44.
K.Nagaraj 45.
C.Avudaiselvan 46.
S.Ravindran 47.
T.Deebanraj 48.
K.Suba Suresh 49.
P.Mayaperumal Perumal 50.
A.Karthy 51.
R.Sethuraman Page Nos.9/34
52.
R.Thirunavukkarasu 53.
A.Mahesh 54.
R.Mohanraj 55.
G.Ranjithkumar 56.
G.Selvakumar 57.
S.Sivaprakash 58.
T.Gowthaman 59.
V.Selvasundaram 60.
S.Dhanesh Kumar ... Respondents Writ Appeal No.54 of 2023 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.15472 of 2020.
For Appellant :
Mr.Anandh Gopalan M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co For Respondents :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi, for R2 ***** W.A.No.61 of 2023 Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
... Appellant Page Nos.10/34
vs.
1.
V.Praveen S/o.A.Vijayamani 2.
G.Bharathiraja S/o. Late K.S.Gopal 3.
M.Sathish S/o.S.Murugan 4.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
5.
T.Karthik 6.
S.Ranjith 7.
K.G.Manindher 8.
Layola Francis Ebinezen 9.
V.Parthasarathi 10.
M.Viswanath 11.
G.Manthiramoorthi 12.
Balaji Durai 13.
K.Theivasikamani 14.
G.Gopalakrishnan 15.
A.Vimal Page Nos.11/34
16.
Sureshbabu Kaniyappan 17.
E.Prem Babu 18.
B.Prabhakaran 19.
Gopal Subramanian 20.
C.Prakash 21.
M.Arun 22.
R.Manicka Selvam 23.
M.Ramachandran 24.
R.Suriyamohan ... Respondents Writ Appeal No.61 of 2023 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.10939 of 2020.
For Appellant :
Mr.Anandh Gopalan M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co For Respondents :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi, for R1 ***** W.A.No.64 of 2023 Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
... Appellant Page Nos.12/34
vs.
1.
V.Praveen S/o.A.Vijayamani 2.
G.Bharathiraja S/o. Late K.S.Gopal 3.
M.Sathish S/o.S.Murugan 4.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
5.
T.Karthik 6.
S.Ranjith 7.
K.G.Manindher 8.
Layola Francis Ebinezen 9.
V.Parthasarathi 10.
M.Viswanath 11.
G.Manthiramoorthi 12.
Balaji Durai 13.
K.Theivasikamani 14.
G.Gopalakrishnan 15.
A.Vimal Page Nos.13/34
16.
Sureshbabu Kaniyappan 17.
E.Prem Babu 18.
B.Prabhakaran 19.
Gopal Subramanian 20.
C.Prakash 21.
M.Arun 22.
R.Manicka Selvam 23.
M.Ramachandran 24.
R.Suriyamohan ... Respondents Writ Appeal No.64 of 2023 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.10945 of 2020.
For Appellant :
Mr.Anandh Gopalan M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co For Respondents :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi, for R1 ***** W.A.No.2399 of 2022 1.
M.Murugesan S/o.Muniyasamy 2.
S.Vijaya Prapakaran S/o.A.Selvaraj Page Nos.14/34
3.
G.A.Kubendran S/o.G.R.Ayyaan 4.
M.Jegadesh S/o. S.Muthuraj 5.
M.Selvaraj S/o.K.Muniyandi 6.
S.Sankar Raj S/o.G.Subburaj 7.
P.Manojkumar S/o.M.Palanisamy 8.
S.Muthupandi S/o.K.Sappani 9.
M.Selvapandi S/o.G.Mariappan 10.
J.Uthirapathi S/o.Jayabal 11.
R.Arulmurugan S/o.M.Rengasamy ... Appellants vs.
1.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
2.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
Page Nos.15/34
3.
T.Karthik 4.
S.Ranjith 5.
K.G.Manindher 6.
Layola Francis Ebinezen 7.
V.Parthasarathi 8.
M.Viswanath 9.
G.Manthiramoorthi 10.
Balaji Durai 11.
K.Theivasikamani 12.
G.Gopalakrishnan 13.
A.Vimal 14.
Sureshbabu Kaniyappan 15.
E.Prem Babu 16.
B.Prabhakaran 17.
Gopal Subramanian 18.
C.Prakash 19.
M.Arun 20.
R.Manicka Selvam 21.
M.Ramachandran Page Nos.16/34
22.
R.Suriyamohan ... Respondents Writ Appeal No.2399 of 2022 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.10639 of 2020.
For Appellants :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi For Respondents :
Dr.S.Suriya Additional Government Pleader, for R1 Mr.Anand Gopalan for M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co, for R2 No appearance - For R3 to R22 ***** W.A.No.2437 of 2022 1.
V.Praveen S/o.A.Vijayamani 2.
G.Bharathiraja S/o. Late K.S.Gopal 3.
M.Sathish S/o.S.Murugan ... Appellants vs.
1.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
2.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
Page Nos.17/34
3.
T.Karthik 4.
S.Ranjith 5.
K.G.Manindher 6.
Layola Francis Ebinezen 7.
V.Parthasarathi 8.
M.Viswanath 9.
G.Manthiramoorthi 10.
Balaji Durai 11.
K.Theivasikamani 12.
G.Gopalakrishnan 13.
A.Vimal 14.
Sureshbabu Kaniyappan 15.
E.Prem Babu 16.
B.Prabhakaran 17.
Gopal Subramanian 18.
C.Prakash 19.
M.Arun 20.
R.Manicka Selvam 21.
M.Ramachandran Page Nos.18/34
22.
R.Suriyamohan ... Respondents Writ Appeal No.2437 of 2022 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.10945 of 2020.
For Appellants :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi For Respondents :
Dr.S.Suriya Additional Government Pleader, for R1 Mr.Anand Gopalan for M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co, for R2 No appearance - For R3 to R22 ***** W.A.No.2546 of 2022 1.
G.Rajesh S/o.C.George 2.
R.Muththarasu S/o.R.Ranganathan 3.
G.Ramesh S/o. (Late) S.Ganapathy 4.
S.Kangaraj S/o.P.Selvaraj 5.
T.Tamilmaran S/o.Thiraviam 6.
K.Sangeetha S/o.P.Kathirvel 7.
H.Yuvashree D/o.L.hanumantharajan Page Nos.19/34
8.
C.Rajasekar S/o.M.Chelladurai 9.
V.Veeramani S/o.S.Varatharajan 10.
A.Vincent Vijayakumar S/o.S.Arokiasamy 11.
S.Jahir Hussain S/o.S.Sherfudeen 12.
P.Kanagaraj S/o.K.Palanisamy 13.
G.Sangeeth D/o.G.Gnanasekaran 14.
K.Prakash S/o.Kaligounder ... Appellants vs.
1.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chairman No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
2.
The Chief Engineer / Personnel Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
3.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Public Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
Page Nos.20/34
4.
A.Kaliyamoorthi 5.
S.Gowri 6.
T.Mahadevan 7.
A.Vaitheeswari 8.
T.Rajasekar 9.
M.Kamalakannan 10.
S.Dharamaraj 11.
G.Sivakala 12.
N.Dhasarathan 13.
S.Balamurugan Shanmugam 14.
S.Narayanan 15.
I.Gopalakrishnan 16.
P.Arul Pandiyan 17.
R.Gowthami 18.
S.Maheswari 19.
N.Dhakshna Moorthy 20.
P.Muthaiya 21.
M.Maheshwari 22.
P.Anandaraj Page Nos.21/34
23.
Santhana Karuppasamy Govindaraj 24.
K.Sathish Kumar 25.
S.Ponraj 26.
R.Ramdass 27.
T.Saravanan 28.
L.Arivazhagan 29.
Nagendiran B 30.
P.Kathiresan 31.
Deenath I 32.
K.Nagaraj 33.
C.Avudaiselvan 34.
S.Ravindran 35.
T.Deebanraj 36.
K.Suba Suresh 37.
P.Mayaperumal Perumal 38.
A.Karthy 39.
R.Sethuraman 40.
R.Thirunavukkarasu 41.
A.Mahesh 42.
R.Mohanraj Page Nos.22/34
43.
G.Ranjithkumar 44.
G.Selvakumar 45.
S.Sivaprakash 46.
T.Gowthaman 47.
V.Selvasundaram 48.
S.Dhanesh Kumar ... Respondents (R4 to R48 were impleaded vide order dated 17.12.2020 made in W.M.P.No.20957 of 2020) Writ Appeal No.2546 of 2022 filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, praying to set aside the order dated 16.02.2022 in W.P.No.15472 of 2020.
For Appellants :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi For Respondents :
Mr.Anand Gopalan for M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co, for R1 and R2 Mr.U.M.Ravichandran Special Government Pleader, for R3 No appearance - For R4 to R48 ***** W.P.No.5906 of 2021 1.
K.Prakash S/o.Kaligounder Page Nos.23/34
2., R.Mutharasu S/o.R.Ranganathan 3.
S.Kanagaraj S/o.P.Selvaraj 4.
H.Yuvashree D/o.L.Hanumantharajan 5.
C.Rajasekar S/o.M.Chelladurai 6.
V.Veeramani S/o.S.Varatharajan ... Petitioners vs.
1.
The State of Tamil Nadu Represented by its Secretary to Government Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department Fort St.George, Chennai-600 009.
2.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
... Respondents Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a Writ of Mandamus, forbearing the 2nd respondent from reserving any posts of Field Assistant (Trainee) in the 2nd respondent for inter-caste marriage candidates on priority basis under clause 11(7) of the Notification No.5/2020 dated 19.03.2020 and consequently, direct the 2nd respondent to select candidates for the post of Field Assistant (Trainee) under Notification No.5/2020 strictly following the vertical reservation under Act Page Nos.24/34
45 of 1994 read with Section 27 of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016 and the horizontal reservation only for 30% of Women candidates coming under Section 26 of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions and Service) Act, 2016 and 4% for persons with disability under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and 20% reservation for persons who studied in Tamil Medium under Act 40 of 2010.
For Petitioners :
Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram Senior Counsel for Mrs.C.Uma and Mr.N.Umapathi For Respondents :
Mr.U.M.Ravichandran Special Government Pleader, for R1 Mr.Anand Gopalan for M/s.T.S.Gopalan and Co, for R2 *****
J U D G M E N T
[Made by S. M. SUBRAMANIAM, J.,] Under assail is the common writ order dated 16.02.2022 passed in a batch of writ petitions. These Intra-Court appeals have been instituted by the "Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited" [hereinafter "TANGEDCO" for the sake of brevity], the respondent in writ petitions as well as by writ petitioners, raising different grounds for setting aside the common writ order under challenge.
Page Nos.25/34
2. The facts, in brief, are that a recruitment notification No.01/2016 dated 28.02.2016 was issued by the TANGEDCO for selection and appointment to the posts of Technical Assistant / Electrical, Technical Assistant / Mechanical, Assistant Draughtsman and Field Assistant (Trainee). Pursuant to the recruitment notification, the process of selection commenced and concluded for the post of Field Assistant on 29.01.2018 and for the post of Technical Assistant on 01.04.2019. Admittedly, the writ petitions have been instituted on 31.07.2020 and 15.10.2020, after completion of the selection process in all respects.
3. Mrs.Nalini Chidambaram, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the candidates, who participated in the selection process, would mainly contend that inter-caste marriage quota has not been contemplated either under the Rules or under the recruitment notification and that being so, the TANGEDCO had provided an inter-caste marriage quota to few candidates, which caused prejudice to the interests of other candidates, including the writ petitioners. That apart, the writ petitioners came to know about the inter-caste marriage quota provided by the TANGEDCO only after completion of the selection process, since under the recruitment notification, no such quota had been contemplated. Thus, the writ Page Nos.26/34
petitioners had no occasion to challenge the recruitment notification at the first instance and therefore, the writ Court ought to have considered all the grounds raised by the petitioners, which was not done, resulting in the filing of the present intra-court appeals.
4. The learned Senior Counsel would urge this Court by stating that the inter-caste marriage quota has not been contemplated under the recruitment rules. While so, providing any quota for inter-caste marriage caused infringement of the rights of the candidates, who participated in the open competitive process. Thus, the quota for inter-caste marriage provided is unconstitutional and violative of the recruitment rules. Thus, the selection ought to have been declared unconstitutional and the process ought to be conducted afresh.
5. The learned Standing Counsel for the TANGEDCO, would oppose by stating that the writ petitions were filed after completion of the selection process and thus, the same are not maintainable. There is no separate quota / reservation provided for inter-caste marriage candidates. Priority is given following the horizontal system of reservation and therefore, there is no quota earmarked for inter-caste marriage candidates. Thus, the Page Nos.27/34
grounds raised based on certain perceptions are incorrect and the writ Court though held that the writ petitions are not maintainable, but issued directions which resulted in revising the selection process and therefore, the TANGEDCO also preferred intra-Court appeals.
6. As regards the brief facts about the dispute concerning inter-caste marriage priority quota, the Government issued G.O.Ms.No.1064, Public Services Department dated 16.03.1956 providing priority to inter-caste marriage persons. The system of providing such priority quota in the recruitment was followed till the year 2022 and thereafter, the entire recruitment process has been handed over to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, wherein no such priority has been provided to intercaste marriage persons. From the year 2022 onwards, even the priority is not available to inter-caste marriage persons and such priority has been dispensed with. Till such time, providing priority in the recruitment had been followed based on the Government Orders, but there was no reservation provided for inter-caste marriage persons. The priority is given following the horizontal system of reservation, which cannot be construed as a separate quota for inter-caste marriage persons and thus, the selection process was conducted in accordance with the recruitment Page Nos.28/34
rules as well as the Government Orders providing priority quota not only to inter-caste marriage candidates, but also to the other priority candidates falling under various categories.
7. The recruitment notification would show that the priority quota has been provided to Disabled Ex-serviceman, Dependent of Ex-serviceman killed / Disabled in action, Destitute Widow, Ex-serviceman / dependents of serving personnel of Ex-serviceman, Intercaste Marriage, Repatriate (Country), Member of the family whose lands acquired by the Government, Dependents of Freedom Fighters and Retrenched.
8. In the recruitment notification, clause 5(x) stipulates that as per G.O.No.142, Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department dated 14.10.2009, selection will be made as per 1:4 ratio in regard to priority and non-priority candidates. Therefore, priority quota has been allotted generally to all candidates falling under priority category and there is no separate reservation for inter-caste marriage persons.
9. This is amplified through the selection list extracted in the writ order and perusal of the said selection list would show that there is no Page Nos.29/34
separate quota / reservation has been provided for inter-caste marriage persons, but priority has been granted to the extent as stated in the notification and with reference to the Government Order. However, even the said priority quota for inter-caste marriage persons has been stopped from the year 2022 onwards and currently, the recruitment process has been undertaken by the TNPSC for recruitment to the TANGEDCO.
10. The writ petitioners are unable to establish before this Court that reservation has been exclusively provided to inter-caste marriage persons nor that selection has been made based on any such reservation. But priority has been given along with all other priority candidates as per the recruitment notification, which cannot be construed as an exclusive reservation assigned to inter-caste marriage persons. Thus, the very basis of the writ petitions, namely that reservation was provided for intercaste marriage persons, has not been established nor this Court is able to identify from the selection list any such exclusive reservation. In the absence of any such specific ground raised in the recruitment process, the High Court may not be in a position to undo the selection process which had already been concluded in April 2019.
Page Nos.30/34
11. Pertinently, the writ petitions were filed after completion of the selection process. The reason stated is that there was no reservation provided in the recruitment notification and thus, the writ petitioners were unaware of the same. However, this Court finds that no reservation has been provided for inter-caste marriage persons either in the recruitment notification nor any such reservation is identifiable in the selection process.
12. Perusal of the common impugned order would show that in paragraph No.44, learned single Judge has made an observation that the writ petitioners have not challenged the notification No.1/2016 dated 28.02.2016 and therefore, the writ petitions are not maintainable. However, the writ Court was also not able to identify any candidate who was selected exclusively by providing reservation under the inter-caste marriage quota. While so, directions have been issued in paragraph Nos.84 and 85 which would unsettle the recruitment process already concluded, which is not desirable.
Page Nos.31/34
13. In view of the above facts and circumstances, the common impugned order dated 16.02.2022 is set aside. Accordingly, W.A.Nos.2751 of 2022, 53 of 2023, 54 of 2023, 61 of 2023, 64 of 2023 stand allowed and W.A.Nos. 2399 of 2022, 2437 of 2022 and 2546 of 2022 stand dismissed.
14. In view of the common judgment passed hereinabove, W.P.No.5906 of 2021 deserves no merit consideration and accordingly, the same stands dismissed. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed. There shall be no order as to costs. (S.M.S.,J.) (K.S.,J.) 06.04.2026 Index : Yes Speaking / Non-speaking order mk Page Nos.32/34
To 1.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited Represented by Chief Engineer / Personnel No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
2.
The Chief Engineer / Personnel Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation No.144, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 002.
3.
The State of Tamil Nadu Rep. By Secretary to Government Department of Personnel and Revenue Administration Secretariat, Chennai-600 009.
Page Nos.33/34
S. M. SUBRAMANIAM, J., and K. SURENDER, J., mk W.A.Nos.2751, 2399, 2437, 2546 of 2022, 53, 54, 61 and 64 of 2023 and W.P.No.5906 of 2021 06.04.2026 (2/2) Page Nos.34/34