Madras HC orders probe into TRB officials for ignoring Supreme Court ruling

The Madras High Court has ordered an inquiry to identify Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) officials responsible for ignoring a Supreme Court judgment on how reserved-category backlog vacancies must be filled. A bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and Krishnaswamy Govindarajan directed the TRB chairperson to conduct the probe and initiate disciplinary proceedings if needed, after the board issued a provisional selection list that violated the top court's ruling in State of Tamil Nadu v. K Shobana.

The court was hearing a plea by candidates whose names were removed from a second provisional list for postgraduate assistant teachers in Economics, published in October 2022. The TRB admitted it had not applied the Shobana ruling, which says reserved-category candidates who qualify on merit must be placed against general vacancies and not pulled down to fill backlog reserved posts. The court called the TRB's conduct a 'disrespect' to the Supreme Court.

The High Court cancelled the second provisional list and ordered the TRB to prepare a fresh list following the Shobana principles and the Madras HC's subsequent judgment in J Sheena v. Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission. Appointments must be made from the revised list, and the entire exercise must be completed within six weeks.