CHENNAI: A legal battle over 84 serving govt employees claiming the 20% Tamil medium preference in recruitment has prompted the Tamil Nadu govt to amend the law and retrospectively protect persons studied in Tamil medium (PSTM) appointments made over the past 15 years. Governor R V Arlekar gave his assent to the Bill on Aug 6, and the amendment was subsequently notified in the Tamil Nadu govt gazette.The amendment follows a 2025 Madras high court ruling in the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board versus S Mohamed Aslam and others case, involving recruitment to the posts of sub-inspectors and station officers. The 84 candidates were already in govt service but had claimed the PSTM preference for the recruitment.A division bench of Justice R Suresh Kumar and Justice Hemant Chandangoudar held that the 20% preference under the 2010 Act was meant for a person’s first entry into state govt service. The court interpreted “direct recruitment” under the Act as the first appointment to state service, effectively ruling that serving employees could not use the PSTM preference again for another recruitment.The ruling put a question mark over the manner in which the govt had been implementing the quota since the legislation came into force. The state govt maintained that its intention was never to restrict the benefit only to candidates who were not already in govt service.The 2010 Act provides for setting apart 20% of vacancies filled through direct recruitment as preferential vacancies for persons who studied in Tamil medium. The govt said it had consistently extended the preference irrespective of whether the candidate was already employed in govt service.The amendment now seeks to settle the legal dispute by changing the definition of “direct recruitment” and validating notifications, selections and appointments made by recruiting agencies and appointing authorities from Sept 7, 2010, when the original Act came into force. It also protects subsequent actions taken on the basis of such appointments.However, the govt has drawn a line for future recruitment. Those who have already availed themselves of PSTM preference and entered govt service will be eligible to use the preference again only for posts carrying a higher level of pay.“The govt have decided that hereafter, the persons who have already availed the said preference and appointed in government service shall be allowed to compete for such preferential vacancies only in posts carrying a higher level of pay,” the statement of objects and reasons said.The Bill was introduced by then human resources management minister N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj on Jan 23 and passed by the assembly. With the governor’s assent, the amendment gives statutory backing to past PSTM selections and appointments that could otherwise have faced challenges following the court’s interpretation.
