High Court, centralise, recruitment, employees for, lower, PDJ, principal district judges,

ource: thehindu.com.

The Madras High Court has decided to centralise recruitment of employees for lower courts across the State by establishing a Judicial Recruitment Cell. Henceforth, recruitment of staff for all lower courts shall be done by the JRC in the High Court and appointment orders alone shall be issued by principal district judges (PDJ)and chief judicial magistrates (CJM) concerned.

According to a notification issued by Registrar General (R-G) C. Kumarappan, the State government accepted a proposal for creation of the JRC, which shall recruit members of Tamil Nadu Judicial Ministerial Service, except the posts of junior assistant, typist and steno typist, which fall under the purview of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission.

All other vacancies in the posts of computer operator, reader/examiner, bailiff, process server, office assistant, masalchi, watchman, sanitary worker, sweeper, lift operator, gardener and so on shall be centralised though the PDJs as well as CJMs shall continue to be the appointing authorities entitled to disciplinary powers over the recruits.

The notification also pointed out that all PDJs as well as unit heads across the State had already begun the process of filling up vacancies through direct recruitment in compliance of directions issued by the Supreme Court in a suo motu writ petition on January 17 and a consequential direction issued by a Division Bench of the High Court on April 30. “While considering the stage of the recruitment process and problems faced by the appointing authorities (PDJs/CJMs/other unit heads)… in conducting the selection process, the High Court found that no uniform methodology is being followed by the appointing authorities in the ongoing selection process.

Sufficient expertise

“Further, it is also felt by the High Court that the appointing authorities do not have sufficient expertise, infrastructure, manpower, funds etc., to handle the ongoing recruitment process and hence the process could not be completed within the time frame. Therefore, the High Court is of the view that centralised recruitment is the best possible option,” the notification read. It also called upon all the PDJs, CJMs and other unit heads across the State to submit details of vacancies in their jurisdiction, the date on which recruitment notifications were issued, the last date for submission of applications, the number of applications received, the number rejected, number of candidates sponsored by employment exchange and the current status of recruitment.

Instructing the appointing authorities to defer all further proceedings in the recruitment process irrespective of the stage of selection, the R-G has directed them to await further instructions from the High Court. “Wherever required, the candidates may be informed that the recruitment process has been deferred on administrative grounds,” he added.