Lateral Entry an Assault on Social Justice, says Tamil Nadu CM Stalin

Chennai: Describing lateral entry a direct assault on Social Justice, Chief Minister M K Stalin said it would deprive meritorious SC, ST, OBC and minority officers of their deserved opportunities at the top even as the Union Government withdrew the scheme to recruit 45 persons for senior government posts on Tuesday in the wake of opposition to the move by even its allies.

Stalin, his message on X, said a nationwide Caste Census was imperative to guarantee that educational and job opportunities were justly distributed to all backward and oppressed sections of society, who had been historically denied their rightful share.

Demanding the complete abolition of the Creamy Layer concept, he said that in the meantime the stagnant income ceiling for Creamy Layer should be raised immediately and the backlog vacancies of OBCs and SCs/STs in government should be filled on priority basis to ensure fair and equitable promotions.

PMK founder S Ramadoss also welcomed the withdrawal of the UPSC advertisement calling for applications for joint secretary level posts and wanted all vacancies to be filled by following reservation norms hereafter.

Three days after the advertisement for recruitment was carried, the DoPT wrote to the UPSC to withdraw the advertisement, though two senior Ministers of the Union Government, Ashwani Vaishnaw and Arjun Ram Meghwal, were defending the advertisement even a few hours before the withdrawal.