Kerala, 28 June (H.S.)

AIADMK General Secretary and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu , Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday demanded an independent investigation into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Assistant Professors by the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB), urging the State government to immediately suspend the appointment process until the inquiry is completed.

In a statement, Palaniswami expressed concern over complaints surrounding the recently announced recruitment results, alleging that the selection process lacked transparency and fairness. He said the allegations had created widespread anxiety among candidates and called on the TVK-led government to intervene without delay to ensure justice for deserving applicants.

Questioning the evaluation procedure adopted by the TRB, particularly in the descriptive examination, the AIADMK leader referred to reports that a candidate who had secured a perfect score of 100 marks in the objective examination was awarded zero marks in the descriptive paper.

“How can a candidate who scored 100 marks in the objective paper receive zero in the descriptive paper?” he asked, adding that such a glaring discrepancy raised serious doubts about the consistency and credibility of the evaluation process.

Palaniswami alleged that the recruitment exercise had unfairly denied opportunities to several meritorious candidates while favouring others who had secured comparatively lower marks. According to him, the reported anomalies had undermined public confidence in the recruitment system and warranted immediate corrective measures.

The former Chief Minister said the recruitment process should be cancelled if the allegations were found to be true. He demanded that an independent agency conduct a comprehensive inquiry to determine whether any malpractice or manipulation had taken place during the evaluation and selection process.

He also urged the government to keep all recruitment and appointment procedures on hold until the investigation was completed and the results were subjected to a transparent review.

Stressing that appointments to public service must be based solely on merit, fairness and transparency, Palaniswami said the government had a responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the recruitment process and ensure that only genuinely deserving candidates were appointed as Assistant Professors in government colleges.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman