Appointment of 54 Junior Assistants by the Coimbatore Corporation in 2021 was set aside by the Madras High Court on June 18, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Siva Saravanan S.
Eleven conservancy workers of the Coimbatore Corporation on Thursday petitioned the Corporation Commissioner to remove 54 Junior Assistants, whose illegal appointments in 2021 by the civic body were set aside by the Madras High Court in an order on June 18.The case pertains to the appointments made to the post of Junior Assistant by the civic body in 2021. The civic body notified 69 vacancies in two dailies on September 19, 2020 and January 1, 2021. A total of 654 applications were received from the open market and through district employment exchange till January 25, 2021 and 440 candidates participated in the certificate verification process held on February 8, 2021. The Corporation selected 54 candidates and posting orders were issued the next day.S. Eeswari of New Siddhapudur, who had joined the Corporation in 2016 on compassionate grounds following the demise of her husband, challenged the selection process, stating that 54 candidates were appointed by way of favouritism and nepotism through fraudulent means. Despite having the educational qualifications required for the post of Junior Assistant, she was appointed as a sanitary worker (with supervisory responsibility) and continues to work in that capacity to date.A lawsuit was filed in the High Court challenging the appointments of 54 individuals. Though the plea was dismissed, Ms. Easwari and 10 others appealed against the ruling. A Bench comprising Justices S.M. Subramaniam and N. Senthilkumar allowed the appeal on June 18, 2026, and set aside the appointments.During the hearing, the court perused the original files related to the selection process. Though the recruitment notification dated January 11, 2021 was available in the e-paper version of a vernacular newspaper, it was not available in the newspaper circulated in the public domain on the same date.The court held that five committees of the civic body that made the appointments performed the job of only certificate verification, which is a ministerial work and such verification committees cannot be a substitute nor be equated with a validly constituted selection committee.The committees were headed by an Assistant Commissioner, comprising Assistants, Junior Assistants and Office Assistants.“In Government departments, the post of Junior Assistant is falling under the purview of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and an open selection process is being conducted via written examination, viva voce and by applying the rules of reservations and other procedures. However, in the present case, no written examination nor any established procedure of assessment was undertaken through a validly constituted selection committee, thereby vitiating the entire selection process,” the court order said.As per the court order, original files relating to award of marks, assessments made through interview, eligibility and suitability ascertained by the committees were not available with the Corporation. “The very fact regarding non availability of the file relating to the selection process would vitiate the entire selection” it said.Advocate N. Panneerselvam of Samooga Neethi Katchi (Social Justice Party) said a caveat has been filed in the Supreme Court, anticipating an appeal against the High Court ruling. Published - July 02, 2026 08:01 pm IST
