Madras high court solace to Tamil medium students in jobs

Chennai: The Madras high court has ruled that only if a student pursued the entire course in Tamil and obtained a certificate to that effect from the head of the institution/Registrar or Principal of the college, will he or she be declared as the one who is eligible to claim preference in public employment under “Persons Studied in Tamil Medium” (PSTM) category.

Answering the questions of law referred to it, the Full bench comprising Justices R.Subbiah, C.V.Karthikeyan and C.Saravanan gave the above ruling.

The bench said a person studied the course in Tamil or written the University or Competitive examination in Tamil will not ipso facto recognize or qualify him or her to claim reservation under PSTM category. Even though a person opted for Tamil as Medium of Instructions in the colleges or studied the courses in Tamil or written examinations in Tamil, in the absence of a certificate issued by the Registrar/Principal or Head of the Institution in the prescribed format stating that he or she pursued the education in Tamil as Medium of Instruction throughout, he or she cannot be placed on par with PSTM candidates for the purpose of claiming reservation under the preference quota. Tamil, as a Medium of Instruction, is not in vogue in certain colleges, or rather to say, law degrees are not imparted in Tamil as a Medium of Instructions. Only in few colleges, law degrees are imparted in Tamil as Medium of Instructions and in some other colleges, it was being imparted intermittently. As on date, law colleges at Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli and Chengalpattu are imparting the courses in Tamil as Medium of Instructions, the bench pointed out.

Originally, a division bench allowed petitions from three candidates, who were successful in preliminary and main examination for selection and appointment to the post of Civil Judge, with a direction to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission to consider the claim of the petitioners in the respective communal quota sans PSTM and if they were otherwise fit for selection and appointment, their claims may be considered for issuance of appointment orders. However, the bench concluded that since there was ambiguity with regard to the issue relating to the availability of Tamil Medium courses in the state law colleges and there was an uncertainty with regard to the eligibility of the persons claiming PSTM referred three issues for consideration before this larger bench.

Answering the issues, the Full bench said for the purpose of recognizing a candidate, within the realm of selection to employment in government services, under PSTM category, a candidate should have studied in Tamil as medium of instruction. Therefore, in order to avail the benefit of reservation earmarked under PSTM category, a candidate has to furnish a certificate to the effect that he or she studied in Tamil as medium of instruction. Such certificate will be issued by the Head of the Institution/Registrar or Principal of the college, as has been contemplated under G.O dated September 30, 2010 in the prescribed format, certifying that he or she studied the course in Tamil by indicating the duration (academic year) during which the candidate pursued the course. It was this certificate which will form the basis for recognizing a candidate to have studied in Tamil medium of instruction so as to enable him or her to get the benefit of reservation under PSTM category, the bench added.