Justice T. Madhavi Devi of Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited to fill up 550 posts of Junior Line Man without reference to the 95% reservation to locals in the newly created 33 districts in the State.
The judge passed this direction after hearing arguments in a batch of writ petitions challenging the SPDCL’s decision to fill up the posts by adhering to 95% reservation to locals in the newly created 33 districts of the State. A notification was issued by the company in 2019 to recruit 2,500 JLMs in 33 districts, which were carved out of the erstwhile 10 districts of the State.
Already, over 1,900 of these posts were filled up by the power distribution company, said advocate Chikkudu Prabhakar, who appeared as counsel for some of the petitioners. According to him, Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy, Jogulamba Gadwal and Narayanpet districts were created from the undivided district of Mahbubnagar during re-organisation of districts.
When a person hailing from Mahbubnagar district applied for the JLM post, he was treated as non-local in other newly created districts and was considered for the job only in the 5% quota in those districts. “JLM is a technical post and such reservation for locals in 95:5 in districts was violation of Article 16 of the Constitution,” Mr. Prabhakar said.
Senior counsel G. Vidya Sagar, who appeared for the DISCOM, contended that the notification was isseud in 2019 for recruiting 2,500 JLM. Those who qualified in the written test were called for poll climbing test in 1:1 ratio. The rule 22 accords 95% reservations to the local candidates within the new districts or zones of the DISCOM, he said.
The officials contended that they amended the rules and brought in Rule 22 providing 95% reservations to locals in the newly created districts. The petitioners maintained that creation of new districts by changing boundaries of the erstwhile district deprived them of competing for a job. This was in fact in contrary to the Presidential order, they stated.
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