Hearing a petition filed by S. Chinnadurai, who was appointed to public service in the capacity of a surveyor, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court said that the service of a person cannot be terminated even if he or she is unable to complete the departmental test. The Court directed the authorities to accommodate the petitioner to a Class IV post. Chinnadurai was appointed to the service after his father’s demise, who worked as a surveyor.
The condition to his appointment on compassionate grounds was that he would be employed only after completing the prescribed training and test. Chinnadurai was unable to complete the test and training in time and a show-cause notice was issued by the Department of Survey and Land Records to ascertain what had led him to not fulfil the prerequisite for employment. Later, his employment was terminated by the authorities. The petitioner sought that the authorities be directed to reinstate him with all benefits and revoke his termination.
Hearing the case, Justice S.S. Sundar said that even if a person is unable to complete departmental tests, authorities cannot terminate his service and should accommodate the petitioner in Class-IV post. The bench further directed the Assistant Director of Survey and Land Records to appoint him to the post of office assistant or field assistant within six weeks. It was stated that even if the department has no vacancy at the moment, they should create a supernumerary post to accommodate the petitioner.
