TN’s seniority list for SIs recruited since 1995 stayed by Madras HC | Chennai News
Chennai: A draft seniority list of all sub-inspectors of police recruited in the state for 30 years from 1995, prepared by Tamil Nadu govt dated March 13, has been kept in abeyance by Madras high court. The draft prepared following a Supreme Court order passed in Nov 2025, was stayed by Justice P T Asha, on a plea moved by P Manimaran, inspector of police, Vellore, alleging that the draft had been prepared in violation of the apex court orders. “The draft seniority list passed by TN DGP dated March 13 shall be kept in abeyance till April 22, and consequently all further proceedings flowing thereupon are also to be kept in abeyance,” Justice Asha said.The issue pertains to recruitment of sub-inspectors through direct recruitment. In 1995, the state govt reserved 20% of vacancies in the direct recruitment of SIs for police constables and head constables already in service for early promotion as SIs. Aggrieved, those who were appointed through direct recruitment challenged the decision. In May 2025, the TN uniformed services recruitment board conducted a common examination for both 20% in-service candidates and 80% open category candidates in the direct recruitment for SIs, by adopting the procedure contemplated by the apex court. Subsequently, the state govt moved a review petition before the apex court to fix the seniority of the direct SIs based on the police training college marks instead of selection marks. But the court dismissed the review petition and directed the state to redraw seniority lists from 1995.
