WP/19119/2023 of D.SUNDARESAN Vs THE CHAIRMAN on 15 September 2026

ORDER

The present writ petition has been filed seeking issuance of Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records of the second respondent in connection with the impugned seniority list published by him in Ref.No.3531/ 2020/ E1 dated 02.09.2020 and quash the same and further direct the respondents to restore the seniority of the petitioners by placing the petitioners name over and above the temporarily promoted Foresters.

2. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners though had invited the attention of this Court in respect of not following the Rules, this Court do not want to get into all those minute details, however his one submission needs to be considered. According to the petitioners, their seniority was fixed as per the proceedings of the respondent dated 24.07.2018, by and in which they have been placed above the private respondents, however, all of a sudden, without giving any opportunity to explain as to why seniority should not be revised, the official respondents have simply revised the seniority on 02.09.2020 prejudicial to the interest of the petitioners.

3. The learned Special Government Pleader would object the above contention and would submit that the seniority has been revised in tandem with the Service Rules. Since the seniority is maintained since 2020, it becomes settled seniority. Therefore the same should not be interfered with.

4. In addition to the above submission, the learned counsel appearing for the respondents 5 and 10 would also contend that the seniority revised by the official respondents is only based upon the TAFCORN Service Rules. Therefore, the reliance placed by the petitioners based upon the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016 cannot be accepted at all in view of Section 68, where the Special Rules would prevail over the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016. According to the learned counsel, only based upon the representation made by the private respondents, the impugned seniority was fixed.

5. I have given my anxious consideration to either side submissions.

6. Though both sides have raised numerous defence, the learned Special Government Pleader in all fairness would submit that before issuing the impugned order dated 02.09.2020, from the available record, there are no notice issued to the petitioners.

7. This Court also perused the impugned order dated 02.09.2020. From the reference mentioned in the above order, this Court could not find any indication as to the notice issued to the affected persons. It is well settled principle in law, if the Authority wants to change seniority based upon the representation of any persons, there is a duty caused upon the Authority to issue notice to the affected persons before modifying the seniority. In this case, as per the available record and from the submission made by the learned Special Government Pleader, this Court could not find any indication as to the issuance of notice. Hence, this Court is inclined to set aside the impugned order.

8. Accordingly the impugned order is set aside. However, the matter is remitted back to the respondents 1 and 2 with a direction to give notice to those who are affected by the change of seniority and fix seniority in accordance with the TAFCORN Service Rules. The above exercise is directed to be completed within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

9. Accordingly the writ petition is disposed of on the above terms. No costs. 15-09-2026 Index: Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking order Neutral Citation: Yes/No pri To

1. The Chairman Tamilnadu Forest Plantation Corporation Limited (TAFCORN), TBGP Office Campus, Velachery Main Road, Tambaram, Medavakkam Post, Chennai-100.

2. The Managing Director Tamilnadu Forest Plantation Corporation Limited (TAFCORN), Karur Main Road, Mallachipuram, Trichy-620 101.

C.KUMARAPPAN, J. pri WP No. 19119 of 2023 15-09-2026