DMK govt maintained no transparency in selection process of PSC, AG tells SC

The DMK government in Tamil Nadu maintained no transparency in the selection process for the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, Attorney General R Venkatramani has informed the Supreme Court.

"Moreover, the Governor has found that the person sought to be appointed as Chairman will have less than a year in office if appointed. One of the members recommended had been suspended for maladministration by the college where he was working as an Associate Professor and the suspension was also upheld by the appellate authority," he said.

Venkatramani also pointed out that the concerns of the Governor in the manner of selection were not addressed by the state government, the concerned proposal had been returned on October 26, 2023.

"Currently, this matter is not pending in the office of the Governor. However, it may be noted that the Governor has approved all the other proposals for appointment received from the government," it said.

On November 20, acting on a writ petition by the Tamil Nadu government, the Supreme Court pulled up the Governor for delay in acting on Bills and other proposals.

In a written note, the AG also stated since January 2020, the Governor has received 181 Bills, out of which, as many as 152 were assented to, nine were reserved for the consideration of the President and 10 were withheld and five were still under process.

"As of November 16, 2023, only five Bills which have been received in the month of October 2023, are under consideration. On November 18, 2023, a special session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly was held and all the 10 Bills for which assent was withheld by the Governor, were reconsidered and passed in the Assembly. All the 10 Bills have been sent by the state government to the Governor’s Secretariat on November 18, 2023," the note said.

On proposals sent for the premature release of convicts, the AG said out of 580 proposals, 362 were approved, 165 were rejected and 53 were still under examination.

"All the pending proposals have been received recently," it said.

On the issue of setting up a Search Committee for the selection of Vice Chancellors in three State Universities, the AG said, written communications were sent to the government to reconstitute the panel as per the Supreme Court judgement and UGC Regulations, 2018.

However, "the government did not reconstitute the committee as per UGC Regulations, despite repeated reminders, the Governor Chancellor had no other option but to add the nominee of the UGC Chairman and reconstitute the Search cum Selection Committee and notify the same. In the case of the University of Madras, Governor-Chancellor has added the UGC Chairman’s nominee and constituted the Search cum Selection Committee," it said.