Chennai: Madras high court directed the state govt to ensure the correctness of the inter-se seniority list of officers of all local bodies issued in May last year via a GO (287) for promotion to the ranks of assistant executive engineer, executive engineer, superintendent engineer and chief engineer in local bodies, including Chennai corporation, to ensure that all eligible candidates get equal opportunity for promotion without any disparity.The division bench, comprising judges S M Subramaninan and Krishnasamy Govindarajan, directed the municipal administration and water supply (MAWS) secretary to issue a circular to all urban local bodies allowing officers to record objections to the already published inter-se seniority list and revise it if there were genuine errors.“If at all any promotions are granted contrary to the provisions of the (Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies) Act and Rules 206 and 192A(5) and the consequential Government policy of fixing rotation, then such cases are also to be reviewed by correcting the inter-se seniority list and by initiating appropriate actions to undo the irregular promotions,” the bench said. However, the court upheld the validity of the government’s revised promotion ratio and rotation policy issued in January 2025.The directions were issued while disposing of a batch of writ petitions challenging the preparation of the inter-se seniority list in May last year and the subsequent promotion orders issued under GO 57. The contention of the petitioners – junior, assistant, and assistant executive engineers in various local bodies – was that factors like the date of original appointments and other parameters were overlooked in violation of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules, 2023, while preparing the seniority list for promotion.
